Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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81. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his Department is aware of any plans by the EU to reduce the overseas aid budget; if he will outline any engagement his Department has had with the EU on this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47613/25]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The effect of cutbacks in ODA by some major developed countries 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.

When I attended the Financing for Development Conference in Seville in July, followed by the meeting of G20 Development Ministers in South Africa, the implications of the significant cuts in aid were high on the agenda. I also discussed the situation during my visits in recent months to Kenya, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

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.

With regard to EU overseas development aid, the proposed Global Europe Instrument proposes 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 proposed new instrument.

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. This is especially important as the EU is now the world's largest provider of Official Development Assistance.

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. This must be, 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 will continue to to engage with my EU Ministerial counterparts over the coming period, including at the Foreign Affairs Committee (Development) scheduled for November in Brussels and in preparation for Ireland's EU Presidency in the second half of 2026.