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

I refer to the Deputy's very apt comment. In her statement after the budget, Suzanne Keatinge, CEO of Dóchas, stated that there is clear evidence from all surveys that 94% of people support Government aid for poorer countries and aid that aims to eliminate and deal with injustice, conflict and hunger. This means that there is a very strong attachment in this country. Despite the economic challenges of the past decade, ODA has been remained at a good level under successive Governments. We would all like to see it become stronger. Ms Keatinge again called for re-engagement and the development of a roadmap with cross-party political consensus towards achieving the 0.7% of GNI target as our contribution to ODA. This committee has been a very strong advocate of that. I thank Sr. Tunney for referring to two of the recommendations we made in our 2018 review of Irish Aid whereby we asked the Government to consider additional support for missionaries. Every group that appeared before us or that we met abroad consistently cited the work of Irish missionaries in the early days, be it in the delivery of education or health services or infrastructural development in those local communities such as providing water supply or a well. We must always be conscious of that pioneering work, which is carried on so well today by missionaries, including lay missionaries, and the different NGOs working with their international counterparts.

Deputy Crowe mentioned the significant change in this country from the mid-1960s, when Donogh O'Malley introduced access to second-level education for everybody, onwards. I know that each child going to primary school in Dublin at that time got a bottle of milk and a sandwich each day. As a country person, I can say that we did not get any of that so there was even discrimination at that time against us country people, which, unfortunately, continues today.

Deputy Crowe also mentioned discrimination in Northern Ireland, be it with regard to housing, basic civil rights or education. Last night, I attended the launch of a book authored by Joe Duffy and Freya McClements and entitled Children of the Troubles: The Untold Story of the Children Killed in the Northern Ireland Conflict. The book was launched by the former President, Professor Mary McAleese, who, as usual, gave an outstanding speech. She chronicled that era during which, unfortunately, 186 children were killed in the North and the South. Some of those deaths occurred in my constituency, including a young girl from a family with which I am friends. Professor McAleese referenced the day when she and her neighbour, another young lady, got her A level results. Both of them got the necessary results that allowed them to go to university. She made the point that the fact that two young women were going to third-level education was a celebration for the whole parish of Ardoyne.

That was in 1969. Thankfully, there has been a significant improvement in gaining access to education. By 2009 the State had achieved the highest level of participation in tertiary education in the European Union. Although the figure for Northern Ireland might not be quite as high, the island as a whole has made considerable strides in that regard.

Following on from the committee's Irish Aid report which we all played a part in authoring, with our support staff, we were anxious to have an opportunity to meet our guests to lay particular emphasis on the need for high quality girls' education, an issue our colleague Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan has always raised. Violence against girls and women is another issue the committee has tried to highlight and address to raise awareness. We are conscious of the good work done by our guests and their colleagues in so many difficult areas. It is obvious that education is important to bring people out of the cycle of poverty and provide opportunities to maximise the potential of their country. We have seen what the transfer of knowledge can do. As a committee, we have engaged with Teagasc and other State agencies on the transfer of knowledge to countries where there is potential for the development of agronomy, the growth of crops and the production of food. Teacher training which was mentioned by Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan may be an issue on which we can engage with the universities and colleges of education to determine whether greater assistance can be given to those who work in education in developing countries.

We thank our guests sincerely for their comprehensive, yet succinct, presentations and engagement with members of the committee. The issues raised by them are close to all of us in our work on the committee.