Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Keatinge, Dr. Hinds and Ms Garvey for their contributions here today. They have highlighted a huge number of very important issues and their engagement with the committee was very worthwhile. Many of the issues they raised are issues we have raised through our own paper. Deputy Seán Barrett mentioned education and communication, which we have highlighted in our own paper as well. We have also outlined the need for innovative ways to communicate with the public and let people know about the good results that come from their money, whether it is given through taxation or on a voluntary basis.

Senator Lawless referred to the toxic atmosphere in the United States. Unfortunately the atmosphere is not improving in Europe either. Brexit governs our lives, particularly where I come from. I represent two counties in southern Ulster. Brexit is on the hourly agenda for people like myself. The EU budget will be affected by Britain leaving the European union. Britain has a good record. I think it was the government of Mr. Tony Blair and Mr. Gordon Brown which set the 0.7% target. They put it in legislation as far as I recall. It is to their credit. I think it was one of those two Prime Ministers. The European Union also has a good record of providing funding.

Several of us went as a committee to the House of Commons and attended various meetings in London. We met the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. We also met the chair and other members of the International Development Committee. Those we met were very adamant that Britain would continue to be a very significant contributor. I gather that Britain will be co-operating with the European Union and with other countries through the European Union structures in regard to development aid. That is what we took from what the committee.

The Multiannual Financial Framework, MFF, is a very serious issue. The new configuration, with one budget covering a number of areas, needs to be watched very carefully. Attention must be paid to how that money is disbursed and where that expenditure goes. We can follow up the witnesses' recommendations, to which Senator Bacik also referred. There is agreement from the committee in that respect. We will write to the Minister in advance of the November meeting of the Council of the European Union. We will also have the Tánaiste here. His next meeting with us will be on 13 December. He reports to us on all the issues discussed at the recent Foreign Affairs Councils and we will raise those issues with him. We will engage with Mr. Brian Hayes, MEP, to see if he can make a presentation to the committee. We will also write to the Minister for Finance again in regard to the forthcoming budget and the need to work towards achieving the target of 0.7% of gross national income, GNI.

I thank our witnesses again for their ongoing engagement. It is disappointing to hear from New York of the lack of regard for the Stakeholder Forum. That is disappointing because we see the great coverage UN meetings get in our broadcast and print media. It is unfortunate if key stakeholders are not given the respect they deserve when those meetings take place at a very important forum.

I propose that we suspend for a few minutes and have a photograph taken with our visitors in view of Deputy Barrett's suggestion that we are not making the public sufficiently aware of the good work of these bodies.