Ms Nessa Ní Chasaide:

As Ms Morína O'Neill pointed out, the reasons for the high levels of debt dependency in southern countries is because of a lack of other policy options. I refer to the loss of tax revenue through massive tax evasion and avoidance, the failure of official development assistance, ODA, flows. In addition, poor industrial policies and other major obstacles such as unjust trade rules and coping with mitigation of and adaptation to climate change mean the debt problem is just one part of a much wider picture regarding the economic expectation of global south countries and this is what is leaving them so debt-dependent.

Finally, in respect of Deputy Durkan's points on the ODA budget, we firmly believe the cuts to the ODA budget have been disproportionate and this means that Ireland's austerity programme has hit some of the most impoverished people in the world in a disproportionate manner. As the ODA budget is based on a percentage of gross national income, GNI, it does not mean that when countries in the global north are going through hard times, this automatically is the soft target. The ODA spending obligations have been a commitment of long standing since the 1970s. In addition, from the perspective of enlightened self-interest, Ireland has punched above its weight in having a voice in international fora on global development and with these consistent cuts to the ODA budget, that has been weakened.