Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am raising general concerns as opposed to making accusations, but I thank the Minister of State for touching on the issue and I look forward to his response once the other Senators have spoken.

Although Ireland is renowned for tackling hunger, perhaps we are not seen to be doing enough to tackle climate change, which is the leading cause of food insecurity. The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015, which will be laid before the Dáil next week, is not far-reaching enough and fails to address some of the key issues, given the dangers of climate change. For example, it fails to set binding emission reduction targets, ensures that the body tasked with giving advice to the Government on climate change matters will not be independent and does not contain provisions on climate justice. It runs counter to some of our ODA efforts and shows up a number of issues in the whole-of-government approach to development aid. I call on the Minister of State to ensure that policy coherence in development aid becomes a Government priority.

I look forward to the Minister of State's response and congratulate him on his work that he, his Department and the Irish workers and NGOs have done in this regard.