John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to make four specific points. We are all influencers, so it is good to be provocative. We would not have got the answer about the price to be paid in terms of stability. I link that to my final point. There is something serious about that. Just to say, for people who are watching, I worked in overseas development as an adviser to a Minister way back when we careered towards up to 0.5% or something at one stage. There was no Ukrainian peace; it was genuine.

I understand the non-tied aid and that we are good at that. In terms of aid and development, the European Union remains the only show in town in terms of those values as a bloc. Could someone say a little bit more about the transactional approach and mutual benefits? I would like to hear both sides of that, namely, what is wrong with the transactional approach and what is right with it. What are the mutual benefits of peace? Perhaps our witnesses could say something about what tied aid is.

We have the EU Presidency coming up and we are all on different committees here. It is a really well-made point that when we cut back on this, there are consequences. That is a very powerful argument that should be front and centre because at the end of the day, the threats faced are real. People are going to come to our doorstep regarding having to make big decisions. Being armed with the information that if we cut this, there is actually a possibility we will end up with a greater problem in terms of migration and instability in different parts of the world, and that instability coming to our doorstep.