Ms Ana Paula Lopes Fernandes:

Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here and to be part of this peer review. The EU is a member of the committee like its member states so when we deal with the standards and the policy discussions in the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD, we do it as individual members. We have good brainstorming sessions and discussions on setting the standards and the recommendations we would like to see in how donors are performing. We do not have a EU specific approach in the committee because the EU is a member like all its member states such as Ireland and Portugal. That is also positive in terms of the brainstorming and the work we are doing in that committee.

In terms of the EU Presidency and the leadership role taken by Ireland, we were pleased to see that many development issues were put on the agenda and we are supportive of the approach to those issues and Ireland's approach during the EU Presidency. We were happy with the way it was managed and the way some of the issues were put on the agenda again and with the conclusions we had on the Council post-2015 and linking development aid with sustainable development. Ireland did a good job during its Presidency in the development area.