Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for being here. It is always appreciated. I thank him for the excellent work he is doing on the ground when he represents Ireland abroad, going to many of the countries that need help and support.

I will follow up on some of the comments about Sudan. At this point about 25 million people need urgent help and about 14 million children are in dire need of proper nutrition and food. When we take the situation with hospitals and so on and, as my colleague, Deputy Butterly, mentioned, violence against women, which is sadly always a feature of war, we have to continue to shine a spotlight and try to play a role in increasing humanitarian aid and to bring about some kind of peace between the warring factions. It has been going on forever. It has been almost 20 years since my sister spent a year there with Médicins sans Frontières in Darfur and the situation does not seem to have improved in any way. When she was there as a young doctor, she and her colleagues were fleeing from village to village because of warlords. They were in the situation that is happening in Gaza, which is that they had to perform operations without giving an anaesthetic. These volunteers are doing incredible work and we have to support them and the people who are there insofar as we can.

Going back to sustainable development goals, SDGs, we had the opportunity to explore some of the issues with a number of witnesses who appeared before the committee. I will put a few questions to the Minister of State. Based on some of the questions and responses from those organisations, we know the SDGs are complex. It is great to have them and to have the tiles. There is the simplicity of what they stand for, but underneath that there is huge complexity. We have to acknowledge that they are not necessarily translating into effective delivery despite all the research and work that went into them. We need to improve public engagement. We need to do more with schools. I was delighted when I heard Councillor Bridie Collins from Limerick talk about a course the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, established for local councillors and it brought home to them, in terms of the work they do on a daily basis, the importance of the SDGs. We really need to look at it in many different ways, including in the Oireachtas. I have a pin from New York when I visited my brother who works in the UN there and unfortunately I forget to wear it more often than I do. I had the opportunity almost to learn more than when I became a member of this committee. I had the opportunity to have the explanations so public engagement is important.

There is also a lack of clarity about the consequences if we fail to meet the SDGs. There is a complicated system. The EU does not levy fines directly, but there is a system and we need clarity on that.

Which of the three SDGs does the Minister of State think would be most appropriate to align with Ireland's upcoming Presidency of the EU?