Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I fully agree with Deputy Higgins. Despite the real challenges we faced to our budget last year, I still insisted on pursuing an important initiative, namely, the junior professional internship initiative, whereby young professional people who are highly qualified with a real interest in this area are placed in the Irish Aid programme. The reason to do so is the need to instil and inculcate in young people the importance of development aid because they will be the leaders of tomorrow. As for NGOs and civil society, on foot of this example I would absolutely agree. In fact, Irish Aid hosted two volunteering fairs this year whereby the NGOs and civil society groups came to the Irish Aid volunteering centre in O'Connell Street and literally set out their stalls to encourage young people to be involved in this regard. A final point underscored by recent experiences is that one should never underestimate the extremely difficult and challenging environments in which NGOs work.

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