Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)

I am extremely grateful to all the Senators for their thoughtful and extremely supportive contributions on a range of matters. I will go back to my opening contribution where I said that our overseas development assistance and international development programme, first and foremost, was an investment. It is a solid investment that generates a real return for Ireland and it goes exactly to the heart of where we want our place to be in the world. We can be a voice of moral credibility when we talk about gender equality, nutrition and justice.

I will address some of the points made by Senators individually. Senator O'Loughlin made a very stark reference to the report this week on the rapid increase in treatment needed in Ireland for women suffering from female genital mutilation, FGM. Many women have fled very difficult situations and have sought asylum here. It speaks to the point that, unfortunately, for the first time ever, we are seeing an increase in reported incidents of FGM in the developing world after decades of targeting it and seeing decreases. This is what happens when we remove development assistance and access to maternal health care.

The Senator also spoke about the partners, who are so important. I refer to our civic society partners, both the NGOs that are based here in Ireland - large, medium and small - as well as those in-country. We place a particular emphasis on working with local partners. We do not intend to go to the global south and say how they must do things. Rather, Ireland takes the approach of asking what is needed and how we can help. That really goes to the spirit of our partners.

Senator Ahearn asked for a little bit more information about the Rainbo Initiative. It is a very moving one that I came across just outside Kenema in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone is a country that has been ravaged by civil war in recent decades. Anyone who has seen the movie "Blood Diamond" knows exactly how brutal the conflict was. As part of that, in all areas of conflict around the world we see women and girls being used as tools of warfare. Sexual and physical abuse of women and girls is widespread. The forced rape of teenage girls in conflict areas is well known. We see what comes out of that and the societal norms, unfortunately, in far too many countries in the global south means that the Rainbo Initiative is working with dozens of young girls every year who, as teenagers, are forced to marry. They are forced to have sex without their consent with older relations. They come to the Rainbo Initiative to be physically, emotionally and socially rehabilitated. I know an example of one young lady who bore a child at 14, who is now 17 and is going to university next year. She had no choice but to bear a child at the hands of her uncle. This is the sort of barbaric stuff that brings us back to debates about our own history.

We can talk about the other outcomes. In a more practical example, I was with a group of nomadic farmers in Tanzania. By working with Teagasc in Fermoy, we send agricultural scientists from Tanzania to Fermoy for a couple of weeks who go back and train nomadic farmers. They have increased their milk yield threefold. The fact is that farmers not only have enough milk to feed their own families but they are able to sell to the market. That means they and their kids are able to stay in the region and live prosperous and healthy lives. They are positive impacts that affect us all.

Senator Murphy hit the nail on the head of something I have been trying to get across, in particular at a European level. If western countries – to use an old-fashioned term – stand back from the gap, who fills it? When we are trying to get the EU-African Union assembly to agree on motions condemning the actions of Russia, they turn around and ask why they would condemn Russia, which is providing them with mercenary troops from the Wagner Group, funding, and propping up their governments. Russia has filled the gap. It is not just Russia; it is China historically throughout sub-Saharan Africa, and perhaps other actors who would not be as nefarious, be they India or the UAE. They are filling the gap but are not doing so on the value-based system that we hold so dear in Ireland. It is far more transactional.

I will touch very briefly on the diaspora, which is so important, and the recognition of experience. As Senator Murphy knows - I think he has engaged in it - I am coming to the end of my consultation on a new diaspora strategy. The existing strategy lapses at the end of this calendar year. We will launch a new strategy at the end of April at the Global Irish Civic Forum, which will be held in Dublin Castle. We have had more than 23 in-person consultations and we received 10,000 online submissions from individuals. We had a series of engagements in Australia. Not only do we have an embassy there with the wonderful ambassador, Fiona Flood, in Canberra, but we also have a consulate in Sydney and we are opening a new consulate in Melbourne. We already have driving licence exchange agreements with Australia. That is done at a provincial level. We are starting the process to secure our first reciprocal relationship at a state level in the United States with the state of New York. We hope to follow through with that pattern in Philadelphia, Massachusetts, Illinois and New Jersey before moving on. We already have agreements in existence with Canada. The recognition of experience and qualifications, visas for spouses, and higher education visas are not under my remit. Neither is the fact that we are living in a housing crisis. I have no issue in saying that. We have to address those issues and we are looking at them through the diaspora lens.

People talk about immigration in recent years but the largest migrant group into Ireland is returning Irish emigrants. Let us just remember that when we talk about people coming here. We do want Irish people to come home. We want them to have overseas experience. We have all done it. I remind Senator Ahearn that spending time abroad on land or even on sea is really impactful to all of our abilities.

On Senator Andrews's point about delivering the message of the importance of overseas development assistance, the few of us here who have contributed today know the message. We all knew the message at the EU affairs committee yesterday. The Irish people know the message. An opinion poll by Dóchas ahead of the general election showed that 76% of Irish people back our ODA. We have excellent representatives like Councillor Ben Ward on Carlow County Council who is taking the initiative. Unfortunately, to be frank, we have a number of lazy figures in the media and one or two Members of this House and the Lower House who think that this is easy money. They ask to get a cut and about why we are "wasting" money abroad when we have issues at home. We are increasing the housing budget and our health budget. We can all accept that a lot of the issues in the State are not necessarily financial, but structural, yet that does not rob from us the responsibility. We are a wealthy country and with that wealth and prosperity comes success.

Senator Andrews is right that the Government parties committed in their manifestoes to enacting an occupied territories Bill. I was in this House in 2018 when Senator Black introduced her version of the Bill. As he knows, it was only the ICJ judgment of July 2024 that gave us the opportunity. We have worked from that. We asked the Attorney General in July to look at whether we could do new legislation. He agreed just over a year ago that it was possible. We had the general election. We had the campaign. It went before the foreign affairs committee for pre-legislative scrutiny. We are trying everything possible to include services. Even though there are different legal opinions, that might not be possible. The Tánaiste has confirmed that we will see legislation return to this House extremely quickly. I will still be supportive of that. Senator Andrews is right: Israel does need to be held to account, but the occupied territories Bill alone is not enough. We need to see accountability at a European Union level in particular.

All Senators asked about what the impact of overseas development assistance and the reduction in it was. It is not just the United States. The USA represented about 22% of global ODA. The EU is worth more than 40%. The United Kingdom - the country of Tony Blair, who told us they were going to make poverty history, and we saw the 0.7% commitment really come out of that time – is going to reduce its ODA budget from 0.5% to 0.3%. We have seen reductions by other countries that have been solid partners before, such as Sweden and Belgium. They are doing it for lots of different reasons – some financial and others for politically motivated reasons. We need to target that, but what can we do? We must continue to make the case and to support programmes like the Our World awards in more than 400 national schools across the country.We work with global citizenship education and community groups across the country. From a governmental point of view, the most important thing we can do when we approach Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of next year is to make it very clear that development is going to be part of it. The new multi-annual financial framework and the first suggestions the Commission brought out in July and updated in September of this year showed a budget for global Europe of just under €300 billion. It is a huge amount of money, with 90% committed to development, but you can bet your bottom dollar that there will be member states wanting to chip away at that. They will be wanting to chip away at it, and it is the responsibility of countries like Ireland, Spain, Denmark and other reliable partners to not just guilt people into this and say this is the right thing to do but make the case that this is an investment. This is the selfless thing to do, but it is the selfish point of view. Investing in overseas development assistance matters. Having debates in the Seanad about this matters. I spoke to the British international development secretary and she said that when her predecessor cut the rate budget, the saddest thing was there was no any public outcry. I know Senator Andrews was on the streets at the time, 20 years ago, because I remember seeing him at the march. We marched to make poverty history. Would that march happen again today? How have we, as the political class, abandoned that issue? Let us bring it back.

I am so grateful for the kind invitation from the Leader to address the Seanad on this point, and the invitation to address the EU affairs committee and foreign affairs committee with Senator Ahearn earlier in the session. That is the point; we need to keep talking about it and show everyone who wants to shout and roar about the issues that are affecting our constituencies on a daily basis and think about what the source of those issues is and how we address the problem at source.