Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. I hope we can make progress on this issue during the Irish Presidency. We have a proud history of supporting developing countries in some of the most impoverished regions in the world. In the past 15 to 20 years, in particular, this has been achieved through Government funding. Before that, it was achieved through our missionaries, both lay and religious. At a time when there is negative publicity over developments in Uganda, it is important to reiterate to the Irish taxpayer the considerable benefits that accrue to recipients of Irish development aid in various regions. It is important that this message be got across, particularly when households are facing particular challenges.

This year the overseas development aid programme of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was worth approximately €639 million, which is 0.5% of GNP. I assume the Minister will not confirm this evening that this figure will be the same for 2013. It is important, however, that we do everything to achieve the UN target by 2015. Despite the challenges, it is important that our overseas development aid programme be maintained at the highest possible level.

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