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Dóchas to discuss UN, EU development goals with Foreign Affairs Committee

3 Oct 2018, 11:24

The Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence will discuss the future of global development aid programs with representatives from Dochas, the Irish association of development NGOs, on Thursday at 10 a.m. in Committee Room 1.

View the meeting live here or on Android and Apple devices using the Houses of the Oireachtas app.

The scheduled witnesses are Ms. Suzanne Keating, chief executive of Dóchas, accompanied by Dr. Róisín Hinds, senior policy coordinator at Oxfam Ireland, and Ms. Niamh Garvey, head of policy and advocacy at Trócaire.

They are expected to discuss the outcomes of the July 2018 meeting in New York of the United Nations’ High-Level Political Forum. That event brought together more than 125 government leaders to assess progress in reaching the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Also on the agenda is the future of European Union foreign aid, including the European Development Fund. From 2014 to 2020 the EDP has been budgeted to provide €30.5 billion in support to 79 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific organised as the ACP Group of States.

“The United Nations and European Union both represent critical supports for the developing world,” said Committee Chairman Brendan Smith TD.

“The Committee, in its report reviewing the Irish Aid programme, called on the Government to ensure that the Sustainable Development Goals explicitly underpin the work of Irish Aid,” Deputy Smith said. “The Committee also recommended that Ireland should seek to increase its role in shaping development policy at EU and multilateral level, particularly in light of Brexit.”

“The Committee is keen to hear the Dóchas assessment of Ireland's progress in achieving the 2030 targets contained in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. We also want to discuss how best to ensure that the EU’s development funding after 2020 – currently subject to negotiation as part of the next Multiannual Financial Framework – continues to focus on global poverty eradication and other 2030 goals.”

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Shawn Pogatchnik
Houses of the Oireachtas
Communications Unit
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+353 1 618 4203
+353 86 701 3295
shawn.pogatchnik@oireachtas.ie
Twitter: @OireachtasNews

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