Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I concur with the comments of Deputies Darragh O'Brien and Noel Grealish on the contribution of Irish religious and lay missionaries. Over the years the different Irish NGOs have made presentations to us and the people at the coalface are working in the most difficult circumstances to deliver services. We owe them a great debt of gratitude for the work they do, helping the most deprived people in the world. We will never give enough in ODA and Deputy O'Brien's suggestion for an all-party approach at budgetary level could help the Minister for Foreign Affairs to get a better allocation from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Whether in good times or bad times, there are always pressures on the budget for every Department and maybe an all-party approach, through the Select Committee on Budgetary Oversight, would be a good way to get unanimous agreement. We need to do more for the most deprived people and that does not take away from the huge challenges facing many people in our country.

Deputy Grealish has often spoken of the huge contribution of our missionaries over the years. The Holy Rosary Sisters are neighbours of mine in Cavan town. They are all retired people who have come back from Africa, nuns who gave their lives to teaching, nursing and working as doctors and consultants. They are amazing people and they did outstanding missionary work in areas where there were no services and no facilities. The good work they did helps us today to sell Irish products or win support for a seat on the UN Security Council or the human rights council.

I am glad the Minister met some of our missionaries and representatives of NGOs. Following a proposal of Deputy O'Brien, we have made a decision to undertake a review of Irish Aid, to bring in NGOs, the Minister of State and his officials to do a short report which we can present to Dáil Éireann. According to Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan, it is some time since there was a full debate on ODA in the Dáil. We want to rectify this and if we produce a report and bring it to the Dáil for a full debate, we can advance Deputy O'Brien's idea. If members or the Minister have any other suggestions for refining that work, we would be glad to hear them.