Ms Olive Towey:

A question was asked about our priorities post-2015 and what is important about the new set of goals that are to be agreed. The European Union announced Council conclusions today. Basically, the European Union has a common position on what is to happen post-2015. There has been a great deal of negotiation already and Ireland was part of those negotiations within the UN around what the next set of goals should look like. As Mr. Zomer said, the difference between the last set and next set is hopefully that the next set will be universal. Whether it is around health, education, HIV or social protection, we as a country will need to set a bar for ourselves. It is not just about Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia; it is about Ireland, France and Italy. The idea is that these are goals that we internalise. It is important that the next set of goals be universal and that we take them as seriously as developing countries.

The second point is that the next set of goals must recognise that some countries have come a huge distance but the levels of inequality within countries have grown enormously as well. That goes for our own country as well as the countries we work in. Inequality, and measures to address and redress levels of inequality, are important in the new framework.

Third, we talk about the importance of rights. The European Union and Ireland are very committed to a rights approach and recognising the right to education and the right to health.

All of these rights are important, and that is always a bone of contention at international negotiations.

There is a need for these next set of goals to have strong accountability structures. There is already a proposed set of 17 goals on the table around broad areas. It is trying to pull together the development agenda with the environment agenda, so it is fairly big, but between now and September next year they will have to get into the nitty-gritty around targets and indicators, and those targets and indicators have to be ambitious. They have to be clear and they must build on existing commitments. Those are some of the broad principles that should be included in the next set of frameworks.

Ireland has been very strong in promoting the equality agenda and the hunger agenda in terms of food and nutrition security and in focusing on gender. There are a number of areas where Ireland has been strong, reflecting our national commitment to those areas. We would want to see that continued, but obviously, as a co-chair, Ireland will also have a different responsibility to facilitate a process. We want it to be as ambitious an outcome as possible and we believe it is appropriate for the committee, and many other committees, to debate the substance of these positions as they continue.