Ms Liz O'Donnell:

I thank the Chair and members. It is a great privilege to come back to this committee of which I was a member for many years. We appreciate the opportunity to make our presentation. So, who are we? The Irish Emergency Alliance, IEA, is a joint appeals mechanism in which Irish humanitarian organisations consolidate their fundraising efforts for greater long-term efficiency and impact. The purpose of our presentation today is to outline how our joint appeal mechanism works and why it is a structure which should be supported by the Government. I appreciate the political stance the Government has made in recent years and as recently as this morning, by the Tánaiste in Cairo saying how unconscionable and barbarous the attack has been on the Palestinian people in Gaza, as well as his appeal again for a ceasefire, the return of hostages and access to humanitarian assistance to be made available immediately.

We feel that given that our world is experiencing unprecedented crises like this one in Gaza, resulting in 362 million people worldwide requiring humanitarian assistance and protection, the necessity for a new approach is evident. The Irish Emergency Alliance model has been proven to work both in Ireland and internationally. It has the support of the public, we did surveys with the public, and key media partners. In this submission, we respectfully ask that the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence writes to the Taoiseach and the Department of Foreign Affairs to support our request for matched funding for IEA humanitarian emergency appeals.

The alliance is a joint appeals mechanism where Irish humanitarian organisations agree to consolidate their fundraising efforts, thereby demonstrating to the public that we can work together to fundraise more effectively and reduce our administrative and fundraising costs. It is essentially a membership organisation, made up of seven leading Irish registered charities working on international humanitarian emergency relief. Our members are ActionAid, Christian Aid, Plan International, Self Help Africa, Tearfund, Trocaire and World Vision. These members have programmes in a total of 93 different countries across the globe collectively giving us a very significant presence and enabling members to respond quickly and effectively when an emergency occurs.

At times of major humanitarian emergencies, alliance members come together to raise money from the Irish public in a co-ordinated and more efficient manner. The overarching aim of the alliance is to continue its growth and development strategy in order to become the trusted "go-to" emergency response entity in Ireland. Having launched four successful appeals thus far since our formation in 2019, raising in excess of €6.3 million, we have proven that the concept works and that there is strong public support for the initiative.

The establishment of this joint appeals mechanism was included in the programme for Government of 2011, and has since been successfully established by the Irish Emergency Alliance. It was formed to fill that gap in the Irish charity fundraising environment, namely, to bring international humanitarian crisis agencies together, with the aim of reducing competition between charities, increasing funds available for disaster response and improving accountability to the public.

Independent public opinion surveys conducted in both 2020 and 2023 found almost two thirds of people thought it was better to support a joint appeal mechanism in a humanitarian crisis rather than give it to one individual agency. Almost two thirds or 65% of adults agreed that the Government should actively support the Irish Emergency Alliance when it launches appeals in response to international emergencies, with those aged 18 to 24, at a rate of 74%, being even more likely to agree. In addition to the cost efficiencies, the alliance also has the advantage of a co-ordinated approach to communications and media engagement, which is beneficial for a public that is bombarded by campaign messaging, resulting in emergency fatigue and reduced donations. It demonstrates to the public that we can and do work together and provides the platform to advocate and communicate as one voice on key humanitarian issues.

The alliance has an agreement with RTÉ, and we met Kevin Bakhurst recently, whereby the national broadcaster has committed to support our joint appeals. We have also received considerable support from other broadcast partners such as Newstalk, Virgin Media and DMG Media, as well as numerous radio stations across the country.

Evidence shows that appeal mechanisms in other countries are highly effective and through pooling of resources, knowledge and effort, a greater number of disaster-affected populations can be assisted. The Irish Emergency Alliance is a member of the Emergency Appeals Alliance, which is an organisation representing 14 joint appeals mechanisms from around the world. Collectively, these 14 alliances raised in excess of €1.2 billion in 2022 in response to the conflict in Ukraine.

The Irish Emergency Alliance is seeking matched-funding support for our joint appeals from the Department of Foreign Affairs. A commitment was made, as I stated earlier, to launch an appeals mechanism in Ireland and was included in the programme for Government of 2011. Evidence from other jurisdictions show that where respective governments support similar joint funding initiatives, it significantly enhances the trust and confidence the public and other key stakeholders have in the national appeal mechanism. This in turn results in a far greater impact, cost efficiencies, higher number of disaster-affected populations being reached and reduced number of advertisements being aired to the public. As in the UK, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands and many other countries, it provides an ideal platform for Ireland to respond collectively and in a co-ordinated manner to major international disasters. It also provides the Government with the opportunity to help direct the Irish public to an approved platform, that is, a one-stop shop for donations that is mutually beneficial for the Government, the broadcasters, the public, corporate partners and, most importantly, to help vulnerable populations in need of support.

In conclusion, I thank the committee for the opportunity to present today. We ask that the joint committee write to the Tánaiste and the Department of Foreign Affairs to recommend that the Department introduce match-funding for IEA appeals. As I said, it was included in the programme for Government of 2011. The Irish Emergency Alliance is based on a model proven in a large number of OECD countries to provide a one-stop shop for the media, corporate partners, the public and international humanitarian organisations.

Bringing reputable, effective and efficient humanitarian organisations together under one umbrella increases engagement from the Irish public, the media and corporate partners, resulting in a greater spread and impact of Government funds.

I thank the Chairman and members. Ms de Barra and Mr. Casey will be happy to take questions, as will I.