Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)

I thank the Cathaoirleach and the entire committee for the invitation to be the committee's first victim. Sorry, I meant witness. I hope I will be back numerous times over the coming months and years. Before I start my remarks, I wish to say directly to the Cathaoirleach, with whom I soldiered, alongside Deputy Brennan, for quite some time in the same part of the world, that and I am absolutely delighted with his elevation to Chair of this extremely important committee, both on a personal and political level. I know he will work across party lines to ensure that a committee like this is not combative and that the work is delivered in a fair and equitable manner. I wish the Cathaoirleach, Senator Ahearn as Vice Chair, and the members all the best.

This gives me a great opportunity to engage with committee members on my responsibility as Minister of State with responsibility for international development and diaspora. I will approach the details of my role in two distinct aspects. I will begin with regard to my work with the diaspora. I share the long-standing commitment of this committee and its predecessors to deepen ties with the Irish abroad. The programme for Government commits to delivering a new diaspora strategy. I am determined to ensure our relationship with the global Irish is one that recognises their aspirations and needs. I do not believe there is anyone on this committee who does not have a family member living abroad or who has not had the diaspora experience himself or herself. I lived abroad for a number of years, although not quite in the same exotic locations as Senator Stephenson and Deputy Brennan. I definitely understand what it is like to be a little bit further away. All of us still have those ties to the Irish abroad.

As it stands, I am engaging with our communities across the world. In this brief, I have already been to London, Coventry, Birmingham, Nairobi and Brussels to specifically deal with diaspora issues. I will travel to Boston, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia next week, with future planned engagements this side of the summer recess throughout Great Britain, in other parts of the United States and indeed in the Middle East. I have also invited all Oireachtas Members to a discussion on the new diaspora strategy on 26 June. That will be followed by the launch of an online consultation before the end of the summer.

One thing that has to be remarked when we talk about our work with the Irish abroad is our emigrant support programme. The emigrant support programme continues to make a real difference. A total of €16.5 million will be granted for diaspora supports this year, 60% of which will be allocated to front-line welfare care for our elderly emigrants and others who are vulnerable. I also wish to support emigrants looking to return home. I am aware many members have expressed support for a driving licence exchange agreement with the United States. Work is under way in that regard and I will be raising this matter when I am in the United States next week.

I have a long-standing personal interest and passion for Ireland's work in the developing world. Since taking up this role, I have travelled to Kenya, Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Liberia. In July, not only will I be travelling to South Africa as part of a G20 meeting, but I will also travel to Zambia and Zimbabwe. I want to see for myself what the focus on the furthest behind first in our aid programme means in practice. I invite and encourage this committee to undertake a visit to a number of our Irish Aid partner countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa. I look forward to continued engagement with the committee in planning out any such visits.

The Government has provided the highest-ever budget for the Irish Aid programme for 2025, totalling €810 million. It is achieving important results. For instance, in respect of maternal health, where progress in recent decades has stalled and may go backwards, more than 700 women in poor countries die every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. These are unnecessary deaths. The developed world has the capacity to end them and to build systems in developing countries to ensure that progress is maintained.

Ireland has invested in maternal and newborn health since the very first days of our aid programme. We will continue to do so. This is particularly important in complex and protracted humanitarian crisis and conflicts where pregnant women, new mothers and their infants are especially vulnerable. For instance, our support for the World Health Organization contingency fund for emergencies helped to provide care for 30,000 children under five and to deliver 750 babies in six months of the conflict in Gaza. It is providing pre- and post-natal care for more than 1,000 women and delivering 570 babies per month in the crisis in Haiti.

One area of maternal health that demonstrates in practical terms the impact in which Ireland is having regard relates to pre-eclampsia, an unpleasant but eminently treatable condition familiar to many people. However, in the global south, to be quite frank, it can be fatal. Pre-eclampsia causes 46,000 maternal deaths every year and half a million miscarriages or still births. Ireland has provided €4 million over the three-year period from 2022 to 2025 to the Clinton Health Access Initiative in Mozambique to increase the early detection of treatable conditions such as pre-eclampsia.

Ireland is supporting the use of innovative technology to diagnose pre-eclampsia in pregnant women. Early detection is essential to facilitate treatment. In 2024, Ireland helped train more than 450 maternal health workers and screen over 115,000 pregnant women for pre-eclampsia. Our support helped save 5,000 mothers in one year.

Gender inequality and the empowerment of women and girls is central to our work. It is a prerequisite for any progress on sustainable development. We need to ensure that progress on gender equality is protected against the growing pushback on the rights of women and girls. To be frank, I am very concerned that progress will become a victim of an anti-diversity, equality and inclusion, DEI, culture war being launched by people outside this room. I am aware of it, concerned about it and determined that Ireland will act to counter it. The Government is committed to maintaining the level of our ODA, which totalled over €2.2 billion in 2024. In the face of humanitarian crisis, setbacks on global poverty and hunger and the existential threat of climate change, ODA is needed now more than ever before. Our commitment includes a promise to more than double our international climate finance by this year, to at least €225 million annually, and we will achieve that target. Recent cutbacks in ODA by some major donors are having devastating effects, especially on health systems and treatment for HIV-AIDS in southern Africa. The longer term impacts on vulnerable communities will be huge. Ireland is staying the course and working closely in the EU to ensure that we co-ordinate support for our UN and other partners as they restructure and reprioritise. I am in close contact with Ireland’s development NGOs on an ongoing basis to ensure that our support for them is as predictable and flexible as possible in this crisis.

Over the past 18 months, we have witnessed the unfolding of an humanitarian catastrophe of staggering proportions in Gaza. Over 52,000 people have been killed, more than 120,000 injured and 90% of the population displaced, some up to 13 times. We also cannot lose sight of the situation unfolding in the West Bank, where Israel is conducting its single largest military operation in 20 years. Ireland has stepped up its material support. Over €87 million has been provided since January 2023. This includes €58 million for UNRWA since 2023. We also strongly welcome progress on the review of the EU-Israel association agreement. We will maintain our focus on this crisis, on the suffering in Sudan and Ukraine, and on other humanitarian crises that do not receive the same attention.

Multilateral responses are required now more than ever, but the multilateral system is under significant pressure. The UN has been a cornerstone of Ireland’s foreign policy for 70 years, and it is at a pivotal moment that creates an opportunity to deliver on ambitious and urgent reform. Ireland is actively engaging with the UN80 process, through the EU and also in liaison with like-minded donors, agencies and partner countries. This initiative needs to be pursued with greater urgency.

In the second half of next year, Ireland will take on the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in an increasingly complex geopolitical environment. Negotiations on the next EU multi-annual financial framework will form a central aspect to our work. Our approach will be to manage the EU agenda well, but also to focus on those areas where we can make an effective contribution based, crucially, on our values. I would like to put the committee on notice that throughout that process, I will be ensuring that international development is central to any EU Presidency programme. My regard and passion for maternal health will be central to that, looking at those practical conditions and situations that should be relatable to every Irish household, such as women dealing with pre-eclampsia, maternal health and the very basic human civility that should be afforded to everyone in this world. We need urgent work to ensure that is maintained in the global south.