Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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We have discussed this before and I welcome the stated commitment to get back on track to reach the 0.7% target. I know that there is a real opportunity now to seize the goodwill that is there and to seize the political consensus, certainly through this committee, which was evident at the report launch. It is a valuable report. When the Minister of State is working on the White Paper he could, while not rewriting it, use the committee's report as a basis. It is very important that we publish the roadmap, get political agreement on it, which I believe the Minister of State will get, and show it in euro and cents. We should not lose the opportunity right now to seize the goodwill to create that momentum. I understand that there were economic reasons the momentum slowed, but as we are moving forward, if we can start to show a real leap forward, it will mean a significant increase in one year to the next if we are to catch up in real terms. This is not from a selfish perspective. The Tánaiste and the Minister of State have already referred to the UN Security Council and the credibility that Ireland has abroad. I absolutely encourage the Minister of State to do this.

I reiterate my concerns around the third country arrangements and Ireland's funding of certain projects alongside the EU. I am very uncomfortable with the EU-Turkey arrangement. There are 15 or 16 other arrangements that the EU have been working on also which, as a European Union member state, Ireland is also part of. There is one arrangement for resettling refugees back to Afghanistan. There seems to be a bit of a carrot and stick approach at an EU level, not from Ireland, that unless conditions are adhered to and figures for repatriation happen, there will be a question over the annual action programmes, AAPs. When addressing the White Paper, I encourage the Minister of State to look afresh at entering into these arrangements. Can Ireland dissent from them? I believe we can. I do not believe Ireland should be going down that route. Where it makes sense for member states to pool resources, third country arrangements can be done, but we must be ultra-careful when it applies to refugee resettlement especially. I could not get a full answer on an absolute assurance that none of the money Ireland puts into that programme has gone on security measures as opposed to welfare for the person who is the refugee. Ireland carefully guards it reputation. I am, however, concerned about those third country arrangements, and I wanted to flag it here.