Ms Morína O'Neill:

As Ms Ní Chasaide stated, we wish to raise specific issues relating to countries experiencing high levels of debt distress. We wish to draw the committee's attention to a range of countries throughout the world which did not benefit from the multilateral international agreed debt cancellation, the HIPC initiative about which Ms Ní Chasaide spoke. The Irish government should act in support of these countries. This would mean raising their cases, initially through Ireland’s membership of the World Bank and IMF, and through relevant regional banks that lend to these countries. We would like to direct the attention of the committee to our recent report, Life and Debt, published last year. This outlines debt crises in ten countries, including Ireland, Tunisia and the Philippines. We urge the committee to read the report and act in solidarity with these countries where debt burdens challenge the path to equitable and sustainable development for their citizens.

Debt and Development Coalition Ireland would like to draw particular attention to the Caribbean region, where many small island states experience debt crises. The region had an average debt-to-GDP ratio of 70% in 2012, increasing to 90% in the eastern Caribbean area. This month the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community, CARICOM, called for debt cancellation and wider economic justice measures for the region. Debt and Development Coalition Ireland is focusing specifically on the small island state of Grenada, which has been in default on its debts for the past year because it has not been able to pay them back. The government of Grenada has publicly called for an independent assessment of its debt sustainability and for negotiations on debt cancellation with all of its creditors.

As committee members know, Ireland shares a constituency at the World Bank and IMF with 11 Caribbean states and Canada. This provides Ireland with an opportunity to discuss directly with the Caribbean governments their debt situation and to support these governments in tackling their debt crises by putting their debt problems formally on the agenda of the international financial institutions.

As Ms Ní Chasaide stated, we wish to highlight the role of the International Finance Corporation, IFC, which is the arm of the World Bank Group that lends directly to the private sector to boost investment in global south countries. The IFC has a series of complaints against it for investing in companies that are allegedly involved in human rights abuses. A number of cases are pending, and today we wish to raise a case in Honduras. The IFC's investments in the palm oil Dinant corporation-----