Professor John Sweeney:

I share the Deputy's admiration for the work of Irish Aid in the global south. It has been excellent and is extremely well respected. Funds that go to Irish Aid are spent very carefully and effectively indeed to alleviate some of the worst problems of underdevelopment in the Irish Aid designated countries. The point I was really trying to make is that we cannot say much of the funding is strictly climate related. Much of it is tied to phenomena that have loose associations with climate change. The Green Climate Fund, which the country signed up to in Paris, had a target of €100 billion per year to be given to countries to use at their discretion for strictly climate-related objectives. Essentially, that is where we have fallen down thus far.

Let us consider some of the contributions to the Green Climate Fund. In addition to the overseas aid budget of the United Kingdom, €1.2 billion was given to the Green Climate Fund. The Germans gave just over €1 billion. That is a separate stream from what the Deputy is talking about in the sense of Irish Aid. I completely share his views on the role Ireland has played, however. It has a tremendous reputation for applying funds diligently and carefully, but those funds may well be in the areas of rural development and housing. The climate fund is really designed for enabling countries not to make the same mistakes we have made in the developed world in terms of their energy future and how they use solar energy and hydropower. That is a much more specific task. I agree completely, however, with the Deputy's comments on Irish Aid.