Mr. Colm Byrne:

I welcome the opportunity to explain loss and damage because our sense is that it is not always necessarily well understood. We talk about ODA and international development assistance and we talk about this being equivalent to 0.7% of gross national income. In addition to ODA we talk about climate finance. Climate finance is for climate adaptation and mitigation. The origins of the discussion around climate finance go back as far as 2009 in Copenhagen and were reinforced at COP21 in the Paris Agreement of 2015. Climate finance is a commitment by the richest countries in the world to provide $100 billion to the least developed countries that are least able to respond to the challenges of the climate crisis. The ODA target is 0.7% of gross national income and Ireland is only meeting half of that obligation. We have climate finance for adaptation and mitigation and Ireland has committed €225 million for same. So far, we have only provided €90 million. Some estimates suggest that we should be providing as much as €900 million per year. That is 0.7% ODA, as much as €900 million in climate adaptation and mitigation and then we have the separate issue of loss and damage.

Let me give the committee a practical example of what we mean by loss and damage. If you can imagine that if you are living as temperatures rise, mitigation would be the opportunity to provide air conditioning to your house. Adaptation would be the opportunity to get drought resistant seed, which would enable you to grow crops which are more conducive to the warming environment.

Loss and damage is what happens when it is no longer possible to adapt and mitigate. It would be the equivalent of someone's house no longer being usable or inhabitable and their land no longer productive. Our ask, as an aid community, is that Ireland should provide 0.7% and should move towards that target. We should make those commitments in terms of climate finance. This is an opportunity for us to provide a form of progressive leadership to the international community, particularly within the EU and among the world's most developed states, by making a landmark commitment to loss and damage. Denmark has already set the standard. It has provided a small amount of funding, equivalent to €13 million. This is an opportunity for Ireland to make a statement in advance of COP.

Deputy Clarke asked what we can do. This is an opportunity for Ireland to provide leadership, to be the first and to demonstrate to others, in advance of COP27, what is possible and that we are committed to supporting loss and damage. The Deputy mentioned the Santiago Network. The Santiago Network is an opportunity to provide technical support to countries in addressing climate change, climate adaptation and mitigation. The challenge is that it is equivalent to having an architect but having no money to build the house. It is technical support but there is no financing behind it. The ask is 0.7% plus the climate finance and the loss-and-damage funding, but the real opportunity is for Ireland to stand apart within the international community. We exist at a time when the multilateral system is failing. Many European countries are already starting to reduce aid budgets. Ireland has taken an important step forward by increasing it quantitatively. As others go low, it is important that we stay high, continue on this positive track and set the standard for others to follow.