Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is going to be really tough to get through this in four minutes; I wish we had 40 minutes. Perhaps we might have a further deeper debate in this Chamber. I know Senator Stephenson and I are going to work quite closely. Just to reassure her, I would not have missed this debate for anything. That is how important it is. The Acting Chair has been in this seat before and knows we may need to move things around, specifically to address a matter. I have a lot to say but not enough time. I am going to lay out some of the actualities as best I can and, more importantly, address the valid questions the Senator asked and points she made.

For the benefit of the House, on 20 January, the US President issued an executive order which directed a 90-day pause in US foreign assistance. The Government has been closely following the situation, which is still evolving. A review of US foreign assistance programmes is under way to ensure they are efficient and consistent with the America First agenda or doctrine. The completion date for the review is 19 April. However, we are aware of this issue of a large number of termination notices late last week for USAID projects and programmes. The pause and subsequent termination notices have immediately affected partners, initiatives and projects in receipt of USAID funding. The work of organisations working directly or indirectly on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, or on environmental justice, is also affected. This includes women's rights organisations.

Before I go into specific detail, I wish to state that women and gender more generally is a huge priority for me within this role. I set that out from the get-go. I have consistency. We have underlined in the programme for Government - I have reiterated it and will be laying out a bit more in a speech to the National Women's Council tomorrow morning - our commitment to women and girls in Afghanistan. This is a specific programme. When I travel next week to Tanzania, which Senator Stephenson referenced, an entire day will be dedicated to women's health and women's and girls' education, as well as governance and access democracy in Tanzania alone, particularly the work in relation to the Fistula Foundation in a clinic there that has been run and funded by Irish Aid. If it were not for the support of Irish people, women in Tanzania would not be receiving the most basic of healthcare that we take for granted in this jurisdiction. That is why I insisted that area was a priority.

I was at Science Blast yesterday in RDS Simmonscourt where Irish Aid had a stand. I am delighted that when it asked all the children to choose their favourite STG, and it was very interactive, gender came out on top, which was great. However, we have a lot more work to do. More pertinently, the impact of the US decisions is expected to be, as the Senator laid out, particularly pronounced in the areas of global health, gender equality, governance and human rights decisions, such as withdrawal from the WHO, and the possible defunding of PEPFAR, the US President's emergency plan for AIDS relief. This will have a deep and far-reaching impact on our ability to achieve health and well-being for all. Low-income and fragile countries are also expected to be affected due to their reliance on ODA.

The Government has collaborated with the US administration and USAID in recent years in several global and country programmes that support sustainable development and humanitarian response. Ireland remains firmly committed to our international development assistance programme and its overriding priorities. It would clearly not be viable for Ireland to make up the funding shortfall as a result of USAID and other countries’ budget cuts. However, we are absolutely committed to playing our part.

The Government has utterly reaffirmed Ireland's commitment to an annual increase in our ODA budget, working towards the 0.7% of GNI. Specifically on EU counterparts, this was raised at the EU Development, DEVE, Council and I will make sure it is on the agenda. I will work very closely with Barry Andrews, MEP, who is chair of the European Parliament's DEVE committee. Equally, when we have a DEVE Council meeting here in about 18 months' time, I will make sure that this is a key topic regarding the wider agenda.

The Tánaiste spoke with Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, yesterday, and this was raised with him. Indeed, there are an abundance of areas where I will make sure this is brought to for in the very immediate future.