Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an mBille seo. Cosúil le Banc Infheistíochta Bonneagair na hÁise, a phléigh muid ar na mallaibh, tá sé tábhachtach go bhfuil ár bpáirt á nglacadh againn i mBanc Forbraíochta na hAfraice. Is ceart an rud é go bhfuil an tír seo mar pháirt de na bainc forbartha seo agus ag cur le forbairt an domhain ar an iomlán. Níl dabht ar bith, agus muid ag teacht amach as amanna crua, go bhfuil sé sin níos tábhachtaí fós. Caithfimid díriú i gcónaí ar réigiúin an domhain nach bhfuil chomh láidir ó thaobh cúrsaí eacnamaíochta de is atá an tír seo. Ba cheart dúinn a chinntiú go bhfuilimid ag idirbheartaíocht leis na tíortha eile sa domhain ar an mbunús ceart. Níl dabht ar bith ach gur féidir leis na bainc forbartha seo ról lárnach a imirt agus iad ag cur airgead ar fáil le tograí infreastruchtúrtha tábhachtachta a chur i bhfeidhm.

I welcome this Bill. It is right and proper that we participate in development banks that make a contribution to the development of the entire world. As we know, Africa is a continent that is desperately short of key infrastructure, such as roads, rail networks and power plants. It is important that any efforts to tackle this infrastructural gap be African led and managed and part of a sustainable development plan.

ODA, was once widely viewed as humanitarian assistance or a simple cash transfer. It is important to note that for what European countries give out in ODA, they take back multiples from African countries by means of unfair trade systems, the dumping of goods and, in particular, tax-avoidance schemes. Throughout Europe's brutal colonial occupation of most of the African continent, the latter was robbed of its natural resources, minerals and people. Some of the structures that were in place at the time remain in place today. We must bear that in mind before congratulating ourselves too much today in taking the decision to join this bank. While the AIIB was a new bank, driven by China, the African Development Fund and African Development Bank are long established and African led. Ireland is late in the day joining up as a member but it is better late than never. Unlike the case of the AIIB, there is no disadvantage to not being a founding member.

While in the grand scheme of things Ireland's contribution is small, both from the perspective of our budget and the budget of the bank, it is nevertheless €62 million or thereabouts, to be encashed in eight annual instalments and amounting to approximately €8 million per annum, for participation in the fund. There is a paid-in contribution in the region of €37.8 million for membership of the bank, which is also payable over eight years and amounts to €4.7 million annually. The first instalment is to be paid when the Oireachtas passes this Bill. This Bill therefore deserves our full attention and proper scrutiny. This means insisting that there provision is made for accountability in order that the Oireachtas will not simply be writing a blank cheque. After all, I understand the maximum callable capital under the agreement would amount to just less than €600 million in Ireland's case. I fully accept that this is highly unlikely to ever be called because it never has been. It is important, however, to err on the side of caution. With that in mind, I will consider for Committee Stage amendments to ensure accountability and transparency will be central to the legislation.

There is no provision in the Bill stipulating that the annual report of the fund or bank be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. This is just a small example. I note that any moneys, including amendments, must be approved by the Dáil and not just the Minister for Finance. This is welcome. It has not always been the case, and that is why I make the point.

Regarding the Finance (Certain European Union and lntergovernmental Obligations) Act, which was originally entitled the Single Resolution Board (Loan Facility Agreement) Bill 2016, Sinn Féin made the point, accepted through an amendment, that when we sign off on these international agreements it is not good enough to have the Dáil sign off once and then have changes to what we agreed without further approval. That is not in this legislation, which is to be welcomed. At first glance, the legislation seems tighter but I will examine it and propose further amendments, if necessary.

The other major issue for me is how we account for the money. This was touched upon in terms of our ODA. The Minister told my colleague Deputy Crowe that the OECD Development Assistance Committee has decreed that 85% of contributions to the AIIB are eligible to be recorded as ODA. Could the Minister of State clarify what percentage of the African Development Bank payment could be counted towards our ODA target? I hope the moneys will go towards development but Ireland, as an investor rather than a donor, should not be counting the full cost as ODA.

That would amount to cooking the books to inflate our ODA payments.

We still have a journey ahead of us to meet our ODA obligations. The recent report of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence indicates that "for Ireland to reach the 0.7% target by 2030, the overall aid programme needs to grow from €707 million (currently) to €2.5 billion, or an increase of €150 million per annum over the period (an increase of close to €1.8 billion)." Budget 2019, announced on 9 October, provides an additional €110 million for 2019 so we are already falling short in respect of what our trajectory should be. We must recall how grossly distorted the State's GDP is but also that there are times, such as when meeting our fiscal targets, that it plays to our advantage. Either way, we must accept we are a long way from reaching our ODA obligations. There has to be a clear trajectory and roadmap from the Government on how it proposes to do this. It should be hived off from the budgetary process in order to make it clear internationally that we stand by our commitments and intend to meet them.

We should not end this debate when the Bill is passed.. It is vital that the system relating to ODA is accountable and transparent. Ultimately, this is taxpayers' money and there must be constant oversight of how it is paid, to ensure that when it is paid it is making a meaningful difference to the lives of people in the regions for which it is intended. As part of that, the Tánaiste should attend before the finance committee annually to discuss the Department of Finance's ODA spend so that we can hear more about how it is being spent and the impact it is generating. The joint committee regularly meets the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to discuss the ODA spent by his Department. The finance committee should do likewise. What is the Minister of State's view on that?

When it announced the decision to take part in this development bank the Department of Finance told us that it was "an opportunity to extend Ireland's reach and impact in terms of trade, in particular through enhancing opportunities for Irish companies to secure project contracts". That may be true but the Department might have led with the fact that it would allow us to aid the development of the continent of Africa in conjunction with the people who live there. Undoubtedly, there are many positives for trade and Irish businesses, but this is a worthwhile decision in its own right purely based on the merits of what the development bank and fund does. That is why, first and foremost, I am supporting this legislation.

I mentioned the need for transparency and accountability. As with the AIIB, the agreement before us could much stronger ar an timpeallacht agus ar chearta daonna, le dhá shampla a thabhairt. Ba chóir go mbeadh sé níos láidre ar na hábhair sin. The agreement could be stronger in the context of the environment and human rights, to give two examples. The African Development Bank is a financial provider to African governments and private companies investing in the regional member countries. I am unaware of what structures, if any, are in place to monitor the human rights due diligence of companies that receive moneys from the African Development Bank. We also must guard against the hollowing out of the state. The state is a key driver in development, not companies that only care about their bottom lines in these regions. Until robust state structures which redistribute wealth and provide for the social needs of citizens are in place and functioning correctly economic underdevelopment and inequality will continue to exist. Caithfimid béim a chur ar sin. Ba cheart go mbeadh na struchtúir ann le cinntiú go bhfuil maoinithe na tíortha seo á roinnt mar is ceart, go bhfuil na nithe sóisialta ann do saoránaigh agus go bhfuil na coinníollacha cearta eacnamaíochta sna tíortha seo sa dóigh is go mbeidh cothromaíocht iontu.

Many African countries are displaying incredible economic growth on paper but, like in Ireland, that does not reflect the reality of those countries' positions and definitely does not mean that each country is providing for the needs of its citizens. The infrastructure sector, including power supply, water, sanitation, transportation and communications, has traditionally received the largest share of African Development Bank lending. While Africa is not the continent that is producing the worst pollution and degradation of the environment it is one of the hardest hit. We must acknowledge that. It is important for organisations such as the African Development Bank to give financing to programmes to develop renewable energy technologies adapted to the natural environments of different African climates and the unique and specific energy needs of African countries.

I cannot let this opportunity pass without looking at how our other policies interact with development in these regions. I have made this point on numerous occasions, not least when we were discussing the Finance Bill. In particular, I raise the issue when discussing our corporation tax policy and other policies and how they interact with developing nations and territories. When debating the Finance Bill, we discussed how Ireland has chosen the weakest model under the controlled foreign company, CFC, rules and the multilateral convention, where we have opted out of Article 12. These decisions have consequences in other places, and we cannot ignore that. To do so is wrong. Tagann sé salach ar an mhéid atá á dhéanamh againn le tacaíocht a thabhairt don bhanc agus don chiste infreastruchtúrtha seo go bhfuilimid ag glacadh cinntí ar an taobh eile atá impleachtaí diúltachta acu ar na réigiúin seo. Not only has Ireland opted out of Article 12 and chosen the weakest model of the CFC rules and the multilateral convention, it still opposes public country-by-country reporting. That should end now.

Tugaim tacaíocht don Bhille seo and I hope our other policies match much of the rhetoric about the intent behind the Bill that we have heard here today. Given what we are dealing with, is dócha nach mbeidh an Rialtas sásta bogadh ar na hábhair atá luaite agam ag an roghchoiste airgeadais agus ar an Tuarascáil ar ais sa Dáil. É sin ráite, beidh mise agus mo pháirtí ag tabhairt tacaíochta don Bhille seo.

See this speech in context