Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am aware that we are adjourning at 5 p.m. I commend the Chairman of the committee, of which I was delighted to be a member until recently. I commend Noel Murphy and MaryLee Wall in the secretariat, who worked so hard to put this report together. I recognise the attendance of many of our NGOs and development agencies, which do a fantastic job.

I have a couple of questions which the Tánaiste is not going to be able to answer now as we are restricted time-wise. I agree with our Chairman, who has outlined that the report looked for a roadmap. I have said it time and time again, as has the Tánaiste. I am glad to hear in his response today about a commitment to reaching 0.7%. That is not going to be easy and will require some political bravery. The Tánaiste has got to publish a timeline so that we know we are not saying 0.7% by 2030 any more. Let us look at those figures. We have been shown that roadmap before. Let us have the discussion openly and put it up to all political parties and groupings to sign up to it. The Chairman outlined this in great detail in his speech today. The Tánaiste will find a willingness there. I know the public is ahead of us on this. Back in 2008 we had reached a height of 0.59% and we are now down at about 0.3%. The work that has been done with the money that the Irish people are giving through Irish Aid and our NGOs is magnificent and we know it. Let us publish a dateline.

The Tánaiste referred to the White Paper and mentioned that it will be published and that he will have a public consultation on it. I said this to the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, when the committee launched the report.

We should not reinvent the wheel, but rather work on the basis of the report of the committee, which should feed into the recommendations of the White Paper. When will the White Paper be published? Are we going to wait until the White Paper consultation concludes before we publish a timeline for reaching point seven? I believe we could do that sooner. We should have an open discussion on the issue.

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