Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to make reference, in the context of my portfolio, to the experience I had in the past month. I visited the Horn of Africa, in particular Kenya and South Sudan, and witnessed first-hand the absolute devastation that is happening there. People are at risk of famine of a scale we have not perhaps seen since the mid-1980s. People are currently dying. There were children suffering from malnutrition, the impact of which I saw first-hand. Mothers, fathers and community leaders talked to me directly. They asked if I would do two things. They asked if, when I returned to Ireland, I would talk about this matter and be their voice. They also asked if I would make sure that the Government continues to support them. Ireland is one of the key providers of support in this area through the work of Irish Aid and through the incredible work of the Irish NGOs that are helping on the ground, day in and day out, along with their UN support colleagues to deal with this situation.

I was incredibly proud that as part of this budget we are doing two key things in respect of the Horn of Africa. First, we are making €30 million of extra funding available immediately. That will make a difference. It will enable those NGOs to continue their work. We need to see other countries come play their part, but we will very much continue to play ours in terms of what we can do. Critically, we have increased our overseas development assistance budget. This will increase to €1.2 billion as part of the budget. That is a 17% increase. Last year was the first year that we crossed the €1 billion threshold. This year the amount involved will increase to €1.2 billion. This represents a steady and significant growth in what we are doing. As we all know from the various other aspects of this budget, there were many calls in respect of the resources we have available. However, in the context of some of the most vulnerable people in the world, we are reaching out and recognising what our role is internationally. That role involves being a country that has a proud aid programme that is admired and recognised for targeting those who are farthest behind and helping them the most. That is something we will continue to do as part of the aid programme, particularly in the Horn of Africa where we will be to the forefront in the next year as we have been in previous years.

We also recognise our commitment to Ukraine and to the impact the unjustified horrible war started by Putin has had on people's lives. We will continue - and we will make extra funding available - to support Ukraine and to respond to that crisis.

I would like to address the other aspect of my Ministry. I am the Minister of State with responsibility for the Irish diaspora. It has been an incredibly rewarding job because the diaspora is at the heart of what is good about Irish people no matter where they are in the world. We have a programme which supports the diaspora. That programme, the emigrant support programme, has supported more than 530 organisations with grants of over €200 million since it started in 2004. It is incredible to see - I have had the opportunity to do so first-hand - the work that Irish organisations do right across the UK, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Anywhere they are, Irish people are willing to come together and work in community-based organisations to help others who left this country, whether it was in the 1950s, the 1960s, the 1950s or more recently. A tremendous aspect of the support and work is there for our culture, for our games and for all that we associate with Ireland as part of the work which we do. We have a €12.5 million programme that we will take into next year. That will enable those organisations to continue to meet the challenges they face on a daily basis in supporting those Irish communities. I look forward to working with them as part of that process.

Those are the two areas of my direct responsibility within the budget. It is an excellent budget that shows clearly the three parties in government working together to deliver. It is a budget which, at its heart, is all about fairness and support and helping our people in communities.

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