Patricia Stephenson (Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I will speak today to overseas development assistance, ODA. In recent weeks, in the early days of the Trump Administration, we have seen a cutting of USAID funding by approximately 50%, which has consisted of a complete cutting of staff overnight and a complete embargo on the implementation of humanitarian projects across the world. This week in the UK, Keir Starmer has brought the ODA of the UK Government down from 0.5% to 0.3%, which, according to BBC reports, will actually be 0.15% in practice because a lot of that funding will be used domestically.

I want to touch on what this means for people living in poverty across the world. We will have instances of extreme hunger, famine and increased deaths. In the context of women’s equality, as a consequence of these aid cuts, we will see an increase in early and child marriages, school drop-outs and fewer women being educated across the world. Equally, we will see a major change in how we address climate change and in resilience projects in some of the countries living with the most extreme impacts of climate change.

Ireland has always taken a proud stance on human rights, development and humanitarian aid. While we have been seen globally as leaders in this space, there is more we can do, particularly in the area of debt financing. We see countries that are basically spending the majority of their tax generated income on debt financing, which is a vicious cycle where they cannot spend their own funding and money on projects involving women’s equality, climate change adaptation or building resilience in their communities. Will the Minister of State for international development, Deputy Richmond, come to the Chamber for a debate on Ireland’s position on supporting the UN framework convention on sovereign debt to see our position on debt financing as a country as well as global tax justice?