Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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120. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his Department is aware of plans by the EU to reduce the overseas aid budget; the engagement his Department has had with the EU on this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43461/25]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The impact of cutbacks in ODA by major developed countries, notably the US, but also some of our EU partners, is already being felt. The immediate impact in developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, can be seen in sectors such as global health, humanitarian response, and governance and human rights.

The situation featured strongly in discussions at the meeting of Development Ministers at the Foreign Affairs Council which I attended in Brussels on 26 May. I have also discussed the impact during my visits in recent months to Kenya, Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Liberia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. I have had discussions with counterparts and partner organisations during the Financing for Development Conference in Seville and engaged again when I attended the G20 Development Ministers' meeting in South Africa on 24-25 July.

On 16 July, the Commission presented its proposal for the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for the period 2028-2034. To ensure that our priorities were well communicated and understood, Ireland’s comprehensive national position paper on the post-2027 MFF was submitted to the Commission in June.

The Commission proposal involves major changes in structure, in spending and in revenue, which we will now study in detail, in order to better understand the impact on Ireland across key policy areas, and its wider impact on the Single Market, on our fellow Member States, and further afield in terms of the EU’s influence in the world.

It is clear from discussions we have been having with our EU partners and EU institutions, that there needs to be a sharp focus in all ODA on development outcomes – on the quality of our ODA rather than solely on its quantity. Our EU engagement will be particularly important as we enter the negotiation phase of the EU’s next seven year budget, which commence in earnest in September.

With regard to EU overseas development aid, the proposed Global Europe Instrument represents a significant merger of major instruments in external action: enlargement, neighbourhood, development cooperation and humanitarian assistance. It will be critical that interaction between such priorities is well defined within the proposal.

Ireland believes that the next MFF must maintain the EU’s leadership in providing development and humanitarian assistance, in a sustained, long-term manner with global partners, and with a focus on the most vulnerable.

External action financing must continue to defend the rules-based international order, democracy, multilateralism including through engagement with the United Nations, human rights, gender equality, climate action and sustainable development, underpinned by the core principle of untied aid and the central promise of the 2030 Agenda to leave no-one behind.

Ensuring adequate attention to peace, stability, conflict prevention and building social cohesion in fragile contexts is crucial, as is the ability to react to serious humanitarian crises.

I look forward to engaging further with my EU Ministerial counterparts on this in Copenhagen in September.