Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I am 100% behind our overseas development aid programme and would like to see it moving back towards the 0.7%, but there are concerns from NGOs and civil society organisations that instead of the funding going towards looking at, and tackling the root causes of, migration, the funding is actually going towards migration management and border security. There are concerns around some of the quite heavy, persuasive methods being used on some African countries to get them to buy into this, such as sanctions being imposed on them if they do not, or the suggestions of sanctions. We know that when the European partnership agreements were being negotiated there was sanctioning of countries that would not collaborate. Where is the active engagement with African parliamentarians, with civil society and with NGOs on designing the trust fund in the first place and then on where the funds would be allocated? There are concerns that these funds are diverting funding from aid programmes.

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