Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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I thank the Chairman on the double: first, for allowing me to be here at all; and, second, for allowing me to contribute far earlier than I could reasonably have expected. I hope to be speaking in the Dáil on some of these issues during the pre-European Council statements shortly. As a result, I apologise if I have to leave straight away after receiving the witnesses' answers.

I very often try to understand these matters through the prism of the strategic development goals because they comprise a multifaceted, cross-departmental way of understanding them. It was said that, owing to Covid, we lost ten years of progress on the sustainable development goals. I wonder how much more we are losing due to the conflict in Ukraine. The goals that jump out are goal 1, which is to have no poverty. How quickly we are travelling backwards on this. Goal 2 is to have zero hunger. Goal 5 relates to gender equality. As Ms Sidi said, it is always women and girls who suffer most in conflicts.

I will try to be reasonably brief. I will outline two concerns I have and then ask three questions. The two concerns were outlined by previous speakers. There is genuine concern that our overseas development aid expenditure will be directed towards our Ukrainian response. A very clear message has to go out, including in our pre-budget preparations, that we must retain a significant proportion of our overseas development aid for the work in the least-developed countries. We can be rightly proud of this work in Ireland. My second concern is that an emergency response is absolutely required in the Horn of Africa. I fully accept Mr. Byrne's comment that if we spend early, we will spend less. We are at a point where an emergency response is absolutely necessitated, but we have to make sure that does not undercut our long-term response, of which Ireland can be rightly proud in terms of its overseas development aid expenditure. We cannot afford to lose that type of progress because, in the longer term, we need to build capacity in our partner countries, particularly on social protection measures and aspects of gender.

My three questions may not relate 100% to our own budget preparations. One of the great failures of COP26 was loss and damage. Ahead of COP27, which will happen on the African continent, what moves would the delegates like to see emanating from the Irish State to prepare the ground for something significant and meaningful regarding a loss-and-damage facility? My second question is related. Where can we make progress on climate finance? I am not just talking about leveraging our own overseas development aid but also about building a climate finance facility that will be fit for purpose to do the job. Third, how can we leverage the UN Security Council seat? I am acutely aware that we hold the pen on the conflict and hunger file. Has there ever been a time when that has been more pertinent and important?

I have a fourth question. I have talked a little about gender. There must be an emergency response. That is probably a blanket response. Is there anything specific we should be doing in respect of gender to tackle what we see unfolding in the least developed countries? I thank the Chairman again for allowing me to put these questions.