Mr. Dominic Crowley:

I very much like the point about spheres of influence, which date back to the 1700s. It is the kind of logic that Putin used in that Ukraine was getting too close to Europe and that, therefore, Russia needed to attack it because naturally it falls within its "sphere of influence". We have seen that argument come back again.

Our biggest concern, and between the three of us we have talked about this a lot, is that the aid budget in the MFF discussions and the annual budget discussions tends to be seen as too small to merit much discussion. Therefore, the aid budget never really gets talked about until the tail end of the negotiations, when the need is to make cuts. What we have seen time and again in the MFF discussions is that promises towards increasing the aid budget end up being reversed and there are more cuts than ever expected.

Deputy Ó Murchú asked what can be done. We must keep aid on the agenda. We must keep it discussed in the Oireachtas, the European Parliament and the MFF negotiations. Please do not let aid be neglected once again.