Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for supporting the work we are doing in the Department and outlining that, ultimately, we are a charitable people. We have that collective national memory of an extraordinarily difficult time in our history and that resonates with us to this day; it will probably do so for many generations to come. Whenever we have the discussion in this room of that 0.7% target, there is absolute political consensus that it is what we need to do. In a recent discussion in Seattle, I presented Ireland's new Irish Aid policy to a number of academics involved with international development worldwide, and they were immensely surprised to hear that we have absolute political consensus, with nobody arguing about heading in the opposite direction with our financial commitment.

With regard to the funds we channel through the European Union, I have always believed that if we are to have the maximum possible impact in trying to reach those furthest behind and effecting global change, we need to partner with countries sharing values and an ethos. All our European Union partner countries very much share Ireland's ambition to reduce poverty and injustice while addressing humanitarian needs across the world. We can have a far bigger impact with the resources we spend if we channel a significant amount through the European Union. We also have recently put in place additional resources within the Department. There are two different units in the Department overseeing the funds dispersed through the United Nations and the European Union to ensure there is proper scrutiny in place. As our commitment increases, we must ensure we have the resources to ensure moneys are spent as well as possible.

The Deputy spoke about the nations affected by climate change. I met the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, a small island state in the Pacific, in New York last September. He told me that if the current level of sea level rises continues, his country will cease to exist in 30 years. There is a very real impact being felt right now, specifically in developing Pacific small island states. We are very anxious to work with those states to mitigate the work effects of climate change. We are involved right now in the development of a specific fund to which Ireland will contribute to allow such countries to mitigate the very worst effects of climate change on their people and economies as they become increasingly subject to such challenges. It is something of which we are very aware and we are working on that issue. We will make a financial contribution to that in a very short period.