Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Sweden, Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark and the United Kingdom have achieved the 0.7% target. It has to be said that our aid programme has helped to address extreme poverty in some of the world's poorest nations and we can be proud of the contribution and difference we have made in that regard. However, it is evident that considerable and significant work remains to be done if we are to address poverty, gender equality, climate change and the promotion of peace and democracy in the developing world.

I ask the Government and all political parties to work with relevant stakeholders to develop a realistic and workable roadmap that will set out steps as to how this objective will be achieved. I am a firm believer in Ireland's traditional policy of military neutrality but our neutrality goes beyond that and involves the promotion of peace, justice and basic human rights throughout the world. ODA is one of the major mechanisms through which we can do that as a nation state. We need a roadmap and strategy to achieve that target in the shortest possible timeframe.

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