Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I reiterate what the Minister, Deputy Charles Flanagan, said in respect of our ability to maintain our commitment in respect of ODA, namely, official development assistance or overseas development aid, as it is sometimes known. In the context of the partner organisations with which we work and which operate under the auspices of Irish Aid, the cumulative figure provided shows that we have been able to marginally increase the level of our financial commitment. This is the first occasion in quite a number of years that we have been in a position to do so. We have been able to maintain this commitment because of the work done by our partner organisations, of which there are many. There is no better example in this regard than the current crisis involving Ebola. Working on the ground and under the auspices of Irish Aid, partner organisations such as Concern and Goal are having a major impact in terms of delivering humanitarian assistance and helping to build capacity in the affected region. These organisations have the flexibility to react to this crisis and to become major stakeholders in the fight against Ebola in the countries most affected, such as Sierra Leone. The Ebola crisis is having an impact across transnational boundaries. However, the partner organisations - as a result of funding which is smartly divested to them through Irish Aid - are also making an impression in what one might term "a live setting". It is important that we have been able to maintain our financial commitment in this area and I am grateful to the Government for facilitating us in doing so.

As an island nation on the western periphery of Europe which does not have any military standing, it is important - in terms of what we do abroad - that part of our foreign policy relates to targeting funding towards nutrition, hunger and poverty alleviation. The funding provided will allow us to continue the work to which I refer and to deepen our engagement, particularly with partner countries - such as Sierra Leone - with which we have bilateral relationships and in which we have ambassadorial missions. I take this opportunity to pay tribute to the work being done by Ireland, through its mission and ambassador, in Sierra Leone in the context of influencing - in conjunction with international organisations such as the UN mission - the government there to pursue a policy of containing the crisis.

That is only one articulation or example of the impact our partner organisations, such as Goal and Concern, are having there. It is important to recognise the work they do and keep faith with this commitment, and I am pleased to say that we have done so.

We have demonstrated our commitment in the budget by ensuring there will be no reduction in Ireland's overall official development assistance for 2015. We have allocated €600 million for ODA. While there is a slight reduction in Vote 27, as the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Flanagan, has said, there will be no reduction in Ireland's overall ODA commitment for 2015. We will increase it slightly, depending on the eventual outturn for 2014. Anyway, we anticipate there will be a slight increase.

We have been recognised internationally for successfully stabilising our development budget in the past three years after severe cuts and in the face of serious economic difficulty. Maintaining the budget by providing €601 million for Ireland's aid programme will be seen as a significant Irish contribution in 2015. Next year will be the international year of development and I expect Ireland will continue to play a leading role at the United Nations in negotiating a new set of global development goals to follow from the millennium development goals.

See this speech in context