I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, to the House. Before I call him to speak, I welcome Terry Sexton, Bill Houlihan, Patrick McCaul, Craig Capri and Martin McCormack to the Public Gallery. They are from the USA and are guests of our bar manager, Darren Brady. They are very welcome. I hope they enjoy their visit.

While I will focus my remarks primarily on the international development side of my brief, it is fitting that I commence by paying tribute to our late dear friend and colleague, Senator Billy Lawless. I was lucky to be in Chicago at the weekend and I spent some time with his son, Billy Jnr. I spent something else in The Gage, but we will leave that between me and him. It was brilliant to remember in that great city a great friend and colleague who I had the pleasure of sitting beside in this House for over four years. I was lucky to sit in on the statements and tributes beforehand. Every word uttered was utterly deserved. Billy is sadly missed by us all, but he has left a real legacy here and in the United States. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

I thank the Seanad for inviting me to speak on my responsibilities as Minister of State with responsibility for international development, a central focus of Ireland’s foreign policy. I will start by considering the global context. International development is facing an existential crisis. This is partly driven by cuts to official development assistance, ODA, by a number of significant donor countries. The humanitarian, health and education sectors are among those hardest hit. Humanitarian aid is projected to decline by up to 36%, assistance for health will drop to levels last seen in the mid-2000s and ODA to education is projected to decline by between 18% and 22% between 2023 and 2025. The cuts will have a disproportionately negative impact on the least developed countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. This will significantly affect Ireland’s international development programme given the thematic and geographic focus of our work.

The crisis is much deeper than a financial one as countries consider the purpose and definition of development assistance, the need to reform the UN system, the global push-back on gender equality and persistent levels of food insecurity and malnutrition. This is also emerging as an issue of trust for many developing countries, which are also often constrained by crippling debt levels. I assure Members that it remains a whole-of-government priority for Ireland to play our part.

In budget 2026, the Government provided €840.3 million for the international development assistance programme managed by the Department of foreign affairs. This is an increase of €30 million on 2025 and represents the highest ever level of funding for the Irish Aid programme. This is a clear sign of Ireland's commitment to working in partnership to save and improve lives around the world. We can be proud that Ireland remains committed to the fight to end poverty and hunger. The Government delivers this support through our bilateral development programme, channelled through Irish embassies, civil society and humanitarian and multilateral organisations, including the United Nations.

lreland’s international development programme has evolved in terms of its scale and approach since its establishment by the late Dr. Garret FitzGerald in 1974, but one constant has been our focus on delivering for those furthest behind first.

It is important to note that there has been a change globally in terms of where those living in extreme poverty are located. Increasingly, they are found in fragile and conflict-affected locations, with these contexts home to a quarter of the world’s population, but almost three quarters of those considered the extreme poor.

When we talk about reaching the furthest behind, we also need to think about disability inclusion. We have made significant progress in this area but we cannot overlook the grave challenges ahead, especially the risk of the erosion of the rights of persons with disabilities.

Ireland has invested in maternal and newborn health since the very first days of our aid programme. Since my appointment as Minister of State, I have sought to continue to advance interventions in this area in Irish Aid programme countries. I have seen at first hand the positive impact that Ireland’s investment in the area has realised on my visits to sub-Saharan Africa, especially in Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Sierra Leone. We continue to support this area of work because even now, over 700 women in poor countries die each day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth.

Sometimes very simple interventions can have a huge impact on whether a woman or her newborn can survive delivery. In Tanzania, we fund training along with boots, coats and torches for health workers so they can get to pregnant women in hard-to-reach locations and ensure they receive the care they need. One area of maternal health that I believe demonstrates in practical terms the significant impact that Ireland is having is in regard to pre-eclampsia. This is a treatable but potentially fatal condition to both a mother and her infant. Pre-eclampsia causes 46,000 maternal deaths every year and 500,000 miscarriages or stillbirths. Ireland has provided €4 million to the Clinton Health Access Initiative in Mozambique, working in partnership to increase the early detection of treatable conditions such as pre-eclampsia. Ireland is also supporting the use of innovative technology to diagnose pre-eclampsia in pregnant women. Early detection is essential to facilitate treatment. In 2024, Ireland helped train more than 450 maternal health workers and screen over 115,000 pregnant women for pre-eclampsia. Our support helped save 5,000 mothers in one year.

Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls remains a central priority for Ireland, as we deliver on our commitment in A Better World, to increase funding for women’s organisations, channelled through support to UN agencies and NGOs but also in targeted partnerships. We place a particular focus on advocating for a survivor-centred approach to tackling gender-based and conflict-related sexual violence. We work with many valued partners, both civil and bilateral, to ensure that survivors have access to non-discriminatory, trauma-informed legal and sexual and reproductive health services. Our embassies directly provide support to programmes preventing and responding to gender-based violence. For example, the Rainbo initiative, which I had the opportunity to visit while in Sierra Leone, supports over 50,000 young girls in their journey to healing from traumatic experiences through access to much-needed health and recovery services.

Unfortunately, in recent years, there has been a growing pushback against human rights norms, particularly those related to women’s rights, gender equality and the rights of LGBTQI+ persons. Not only does this pose a risk to global progress on issues like sexual and reproductive health and rights, it has begun to unravel decades of effort that secured gender mainstreaming across global policy agendas and has the potential to curtail achievement of the equality ambitions central to the SDGs. I see it as essential that global gains made in gender equality are protected against the growing backlash and undermining of the rights of women and girls.

Ireland consistently ranks among the top 20 donors globally in terms of total humanitarian support and is recognised as a principled donor providing assistance based on need to the most severe and underfunded crises. lreland’s funding for humanitarian response has increased steadily in recent years, reaching approximately €330 million in 2024 across Government, including EU and multilateral contributions. The level of our humanitarian assistance is expected to reach at least this amount in 2025.

The most visible impact of increased conflict can be seen in displaced populations and the unprecedented level of need for humanitarian assistance. We have witnessed the unfolding of a humanitarian catastrophe of staggering proportions in Gaza. At the same time, years of conflict in Sudan continue to cause one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent memories. I note the various contributions in recent days of Senators seeking a debate on Sudan and I must underline that Ireland's commitment of over €14 million there this year will be at least matched again next year as the situation unfolds to become even worse, to be quite frank. The situation on the ground in Ukraine continues to be extremely challenging, particularly as the country faces another winter and increased attacks on energy. We are witnessing a situation where the number of people globally who require humanitarian assistance is estimated at 305 million but shrinking finance means that only a third of people in need this year will be targeted.

All of this is taking place against the background of the existential threat of climate change. Ireland remains on track to reach the target of providing at least €225 million in climate finance per year to developing countries by 2025. Adaptation is the main focus of Ireland’s climate finance and support, particularly in least-developed countries and small island developing states.

Ireland has been a long-standing champion of global efforts to reduce hunger and malnutrition and given our own history of famine, that should be of no surprise to anyone in this House. We continue to play a leading role internationally in nutrition and have been consistent and successful in bringing others to the table to support initiatives. The Nutrition for Growth summit in Paris earlier this year saw bilateral donors, UN agencies, the EU and others come together to make combined pledges of $28 billion. At this event, we delivered a very ambitious pledge to spend €250 million annually for four years to address hunger and malnutrition, a pledge we will deliver on. Ireland is providing €50 million over three years for child-wasting through our partners the WHO, UNICEF and Concern, to save the lives and improve the health of severely malnourished children in ten countries in Africa. This initiative improves healthcare, supports social protection and addresses the root causes of child malnutrition.

Working through civil-society organisations is also one of Ireland's principal delivery mechanisms for official development aid, ODA, with over €269 million in funding allocated to partners in 2024. We have also made sure to bring this message to the global stage. Through this year, since my appointment, I attended the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville, Spain. I also had the honour of being one of the first Irish Ministers to attend the G20 under the South African presidency this year. We have also been present at the United Nations General Assembly in September and next week, I travel to Brazil for the climate-related Conference of the Parties, COP30.

In conclusion, before other Senators come in - and I will respond to all their points individually - I want to make a point really clear. Other countries are cutting their development programmes; we are increasing ours. Development should not just be seen as a cost or an outlay. It is an investment. It is very much an investment in targeting the root causes of the very issues that come before us in our constituency clinics every week, everything from energy insecurity and food or grocery prices to irregular migration and genuine security threats. They all emerge from an unstable global south. It is now more important than ever that we take that message. When other countries are cutting and we do not see the Make Poverty History marches or the level of public buy-in we may have seen 20 years ago, now is exactly the time when countries like Ireland need to stand up and ensure our values are heard on the global stage. We continue to reassure the global south that we stand with it.

I thank Senator Ahearn for allowing me to go before him due to another appointment. It is really appreciated.

The Minister of State is very welcome. This discussion is timely. It is also important that we had the opportunity to discuss it yesterday at the European affairs committee but our voices need to be heard in every Chamber and committee. I acknowledge the Minister of State's commitment and the Government's commitment to firmly pledge, with our international partners, that we need to tackle issues that affect so many lives right across the globe.

I thank Irish Aid and all those who work there for the work they do, touching the lives of people living in the most challenging places on Earth. I acknowledge Ireland's humanitarian support that offers a lifeline in places like Sudan and Gaza, while our long-term development support continues to transform lives in places affected by poverty and climate change.

The Minister of State mentioned Sudan. We had the opportunity to raise it in the Seanad this morning. We raised it on Tuesday morning, and as the Minister of State knows, we discussed it yesterday as well. What has been happening over the past two years is just shocking, as is the fact that 24 million people are deeply impacted and 12 million children are suffering from malnutrition. Everything we can do needs to be done to both support those who are in Sudan but also the surrounding countries, who are going through difficult situations themselves. They have to support the many millions of refugees coming from Sudan.

From humanitarian disaster zones to places where people struggle to access food, education or healthcare, Ireland's support makes a transformative difference to people's lives. One of the areas I want to briefly mention is the area of female genital mutilation, FGM. While I appreciate that we have legislation here that forbids FGM and makes it a criminal offence, at the same time, there was a report during the week that said there was a 330% increase in demand for FGM-related medical treatments. That is quite shocking. The earlier statistic I found was that in 2017, 5,790 women underwent FGM in Ireland, which is a very high number.

This is as a result of cultural practices from outside Ireland. A former Minster of State, Marcella Corcoran Kennedy, headed up a subgroup on FGM within the women's caucus that produced a very strong report containing a really good set of recommendations. We met the Taoiseach of the day - he is now Taoiseach again - to discuss the report. I would very much appreciate it if we could take the opportunity to forward the report to the Minister of State who is present because FGM is something we need to try stamp out globally. Obviously, it has an impact on girls and women living here.

I had the opportunity to mention to the following matter to the Minister of State previously. The work that our partners in international aid do is extremely important to the day-to-day lives of people who need extra support. There are two such partners with which I was involved in Tanzania and Uganda that helped set up and support Special Olympics for people with intellectual disabilities, particularly children. I will provide an example of one programme that was funded. I refer to a situation where the equivalent €60,000 was spent on health education in a particular area in Tanzania. That money went towards visiting families where it was known that they had a child with an intellectual disability. In many cases, these children literally never saw the light of day. They were tethered by ropes to the homes because of the shame and stigma that obtained. Through that funding, the community and Special Olympics were able to organise a gardening programme for those with intellectual disabilities. A lot of crops were grown, which were then sold. The children and young people who were involved brought those skills back to their homes. Their families then learned how to grow vegetables and to cook. There was a nutrition programme and a healthy cooking programme, and they were able to sell their crops. It was an absolute lifeline for those who were involved. The entities that Irish Aid is able to partner with are really important, especially those who are on the ground providing grassroots support.

I thank all of those who have been involved in the partnerships. I have no doubt we will get to see many of those programmes going forward.

The Minister of State is very welcome. It is very important to have him here to outline the work that has been done in the area of overseas aid. Obviously, it is welcome that we are increasing our annual funding up to €840 million. Hopefully, over the lifetime of this Government, that money will continue to increase.

It is important to have a debate for the benefit of the Irish public. We know that the money is going to overseas aid but many people do not really know where it is being spent, who is benefiting or whether we actually oversee where it is invested. The Minister of State referred to a number of countries and to projects that support people in those countries. That was quite interesting, because we predominantly invest in women in some of those countries he mentioned. We invest in women's healthcare, whether it is in the context of maternity issues, blood pressure or gender equality. It seems to be that much of our investment predominantly goes to women and childcare. That is incredibly important.

The Minister of State has visited a number of countries and he has seen at first hand the impact our investment makes. When responding to the debate, can he provide examples of the timeline relating to our investment, what is being done to support the people to whom I refer and the positive outcomes from our investment that have been seen in communities in the countries he has visited? He mentioned Sierra Leone and the Rainbo Initiative. Could he elaborate on that, particularly as the foreign affairs committee has met with an awful lot of organisations. As a committee, we always try to travel to one of the developing countries every year. Next year, members of the committee will hopefully be visiting Sierra Leone and Libya. Can the Minister of State provide some further information in terms of what exactly is done to support the Rainbo Initiative?

The funding we give has a positive impact in countries. It is something we should be very proud of. Irish people in general are very proud of what is done with that money. The investment we are giving - and we are one of the highest investors per capita globally - is really significant. The Minister of State talked about overseas development aid and the projects we are spending this money on. He mentioned that there are 305 million people across the world who need humanitarian assistance. At the moment, we only have funding to target one third of those. In that context, is our aid targeted in terms of countries or at situations across all countries? What essentially happens to the other two thirds? America is an obvious case but we all know of countries that have pulled back from providing support. America is the most high-profile example because it gives the most money. The impact from its reduction is almost impossible to counteract in the context of other countries increasing their investment. What kind of impact is that having? Has enough time passed to allow us to see the negative impact of that lack of investment? From a diplomatic perspective, what can the Irish State do to try to convince the countries to which I refer to reinvest in overseas aid?

The Minister of State outlined that this has a positive impact on those countries, but it also has a positive impact on us. There are conversations happening at every dinner table about pressures on investment, infrastructure, healthcare, education and security in Ireland. We have a rapidly growing economy, and people are coming into this country. We welcome the vast majority of them, but they are leaving countries because they are not developed and are not getting the investment they need to develop. When we talk about the concerns regarding so many people coming into this country, some of the best money the State is spending is that relating to overseas development. Such development gives people the option of staying in their own countries if they choose to do so. I was talking with Councillor Ben Ward before this debate began. Councillor Ward is doing an awful lot of work on this at the moment in terms of the positive impact that overseas aid can give and how, politically, that can be provide an impetus going forward. This is an important debate.

The Minister of State has done really good work in terms of trying to get the narrative out there in the context of what we do, how we do it and how we oversee every single penny the Irish people put into this. It is not just given and nothing is known about where it goes. We are seeing positive impacts. If the Minister of State could expand on that a bit more, it would be helpful. I do not know what we can do to try to get other countries on board and encourage them to stop being inward looking in terms of the political decisions they are making and be outward looking and realising they can benefit from further investment.

I look forward to working with the Minister of State in this Chamber and at the foreign affairs committee in the context of helping all the people who work for organisations in various countries around the world on behalf of Ireland. They do phenomenal work. We can never give them enough money to do the work that is needed. We must always recognise that the work they do is hugely significant and plays a massive and positive role in terms of the respect we are shown as a country.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I had intended to ask to share time with Senator Chris Andrews, but I presume that will not be necessary. The Senator will have sufficient time to make his own contribution, not that I intend to take up too much of the Minister of State's time.

I very much welcome the Minister of State's contribution and the emphasis he put on the commitment the Government has given in respect of continuing to provide overseas development assistance and to fund various projects to the level they are currently being funded.

That is particularly so when sources of funding like USAID and others are being withdrawn, which is not only having a devastating effect on many aid agencies across the world but is also allowing other actors to come into that space who are not necessarily as genuinely motivated as we would like to think we are in that regard. The Minister of State spoke about the values of this country and our intent in relation to the work we do overseas. That is recognised. It has a long history that I daresay goes back to my fellow villager and Camlough man, Frank Aiken, and his work in establishing that position of Ireland at the United Nations and our ongoing commitment to being a neutral actor in these matters.

We have seen very clearly with USAID and with other aid that might be made available to people that it comes with issues and strings attached. The importance of us continuing to do that work, particularly in the areas the Minister of State outlined such as humanitarian areas and the protection of women, is crucially important, along with the focus on the global south. As Senator Ahearn said, as regards the issues that are thrown up by the challenges of immigration, particularly in Europe but also in the United States in relation to South America, the best investment that can possibly be made is in ensuring people do not feel the need, either because of economic or climate circumstances, to make a long, dangerous and arduous trek to somewhere where they can find relief, only to then find that the welcome of the countries they are trying to get to is less than forthcoming, particularly in the case of European countries that have colonised and stripped the assets of the countries those people are leaving. Our commitment in terms of the continued amount we are intending to give to that, along with the values we bring, is important. I agree with the point we should continue to urge other countries to step up in that regard, because if people genuinely want to solve issues of climate change and economic migration, investment in those countries where people are suffering the most hardship is clearly the way to do it.

It would be remiss of me not to reference the diaspora, the other element of the Minister of State's brief, though it was not a subject in his statement. I had the benefit over the past two weeks of travelling around Australia on behalf of a delegation from Sinn Féin. It was during the week before Hallowe'en and the week of recess. We spent time in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra and the Irish connection there is so strong. Australia is probably as far away as you can get for an Irish diaspora, but its connection to home is really strong. This trip occurred at the time of the presidential election and there was huge interest in what was going on back home. In that sense, and given the advertising campaign the Government has engaged in, with the catchline “You built Sydney; come back and build Ireland”, and the desire to get people to come home, it was not lost on people and was remarked on to us by quite a few people that they are not allowed to vote in a presidential election. People want them home and they value them as the diaspora, as Irish citizens living abroad, but yet many other countries - a huge number - across the world facilitate their citizens voting in presidential and other elections and that that was not available to them. I welcome the sentiment of hoping people will return, and we all hope people will return. There is a new country to be built here in the time ahead. I have always encouraged young people to travel and get the experiences and benefits of being abroad, but to come back home and assist in building the new Ireland that lies ahead. In terms of our immediate economic needs we need many people to come back.

Many of the same issues were raised with us in that conversation. I had the opportunity to meet people at a political level, both at state and federal level, and to talk to our own diplomats, who are doing excellent work with our new ambassador and consul general in Sydney. I talked to people in the GAA clubs, in the diaspora, in trade unions and in business, all Irish people who have been very successful in Australia, and the same issues kept arising, one of which was housing. The ability to come back and have their own home is the biggest single barrier in people’s minds to returning. There are practical things that can be done and I ask the Minister of State to examine some of these. For instance, there is the issue of healthcare staff who go and practise in Australia and their ability to transfer that experience when they come home, the ability of a person to say they have seven years’ experience working in a healthcare setting and they would like to see those qualifications and that experience recognised. People in a whole range of professions, not just healthcare, told us they come back and basically start at square one. Dealing with that would be a practical step. If we want to encourage people to come home, we need much more than billboards. We need to take practical steps in terms of the issues they are raising with us. Other issues that arose were driving licence exchange, housing challenges - an obvious one - visas for non-Irish spouses and partners, and education and third level fees for children of Irish-born citizens. These are all barriers to people returning home.

The sentiment is correct. The visit coincided with the presidential election, which was an obvious sore point for a lot of Irish citizens abroad and their inability to participate in the political life of the country, yet there is a desire on the part of the Government to have many of them return home. In a political and practical sense, there are many issues that can be addressed to make that aspiration something which has a level of practical support rather than an expressed desire on behalf of the Government.

Before I move to Senator Andrews, I acknowledge Councillor Ben Ward from Carlow is here in the Gallery. He is very welcome and I hope he enjoys his visit to Leinster House.

I thank the Minister of State for coming in again. He is always very engaged and open, and that is appreciated by everybody in the House. The investment is very welcome. Ireland does overseas aid really well, and that is very important. As the Minister of State said, investment in the global south affects communities here. I am not sure how we can get that message across. It is a case of delivering that message because it is really important and it is linked. The overseas aid is so important.

Last month's so-called ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas provided an opportunity for some degree of respite, but in my view, the heightened extreme genocide has just been decelerated. There is still genocide. More than 200 people have been killed by Israel since the so-called ceasefire, and it is still using food and water to kill and punish people. The humanitarian corridor that should have been opened years ago is still not open fully and is still being controlled by Israel. There are still F16s and F35s flying overhead, there are still walls surrounding the Gaza Strip, and there are still restrictions on people going very far out to sea. People talk about peace, and we all want to see peace for Palestinians and for everyone, but peace cannot exist unless there is justice. Peace will not last unless there is justice, human rights, equality and freedom of movement. Frankly, I do not believe Israel is going to allow Palestinians any sense of justice. It is not going to give them any sense of the control over their own lives that is required if we are going to have a genuine peace.

It is really important now more than ever that Israel is held accountable for what it has done and what it continues to do. Without accountability, Israel over the past 70 years has slowly dismantled and accelerated the dismantling of international law, the rule of law and the legal frameworks we use. Even Ursula von der Leyen has facilitated European countries stepping outside the legal framework that is there for European democracies. She has allowed countries to step outside that legal framework in order to clamp down on and smash peaceful protests across Europe. When you see more than 150 European citizens kidnapped from international waters, you cannot help but think Israel has no respect for international law.

It has proven that is the case. No one is holding it to account. There has been no end to the violence. Israel continues to terrorise Palestinians in Gaza and also in the West Bank. Day after day, there are breaches of international law. Israel is increasing the number of settlements, which are obviously illegal. It is something on which we have to hold it to account.

Before the previous election, the Government parties said they were going to look at and support the passing of the occupied territories Bill. That was a shift from where they had been because the Bill had been around for many years and they had not supported it. Coming up to the election, they said they would support the occupied territories Bill, yet it is nearly a year now and nothing has happened with the Bill. There has been some scrutiny of it in the committee but there is no sense that the Bill is going to be passed. That is beyond disappointing from this Government. It is something that we need to tackle.

I again compliment the Minister of State on his engagement and his commitment to his brief.

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.

When is it proposed to sit again?

Next Wednesday at 10.30 a.m.

Is that agreed? Agreed.