Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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311. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the way in which Ireland plans to engage with the IMF on its policy of austerity, with particular concern for the way that this policy is impacting on the public sector wage bills, education, especially girls' education and development outcomes in lower-income countries benefitting from Ireland's foreign aid; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56669/22]

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Ireland is strongly committed to supporting effective, quality public service provision in developing countries. In addition to our extensive work with partner governments and civil society organisations, we work with a range of international partners and within multilateral structures to further this ambition.

Ireland is particularly committed to supporting education. In line with our international development policy, A Better World, the government has pledged to provide €250 million for education up to 2023 through our official development assistance budget. We continue to scale up support for education across our work, with a focus on education in emergencies and girls’ education, guided by the underlying principle of reaching the furthest behind first. Ireland supports the strengthening of education systems in developing countries so that states can provide free and inclusive quality primary and secondary education for all children.

Macroeconomic stability and high quality, sustainable growth are necessary conditions for success in this area. Restoring this stability and fostering conditions for such growth are the overarching goal of the IMF. Conditionality has always been an integral part of IMF programmes. In recent years, the IMF has become more flexible in the way it engages with countries on issues related to reform. For example, there is greater collaboration with member countries requesting assistance when selecting, designing, and implementing policies, in order to make the IMF-supported programmes successful. Ireland engages with the IMF both at a global level, through our Constituency Office in Washington DC, and at a country level with IMF’s Resident Representatives through our Mission network. We follow closely the implementation and impact of IMF programmes in our partner countries and work, wherever possible, to influence these positively.