 Well, everybody, good afternoon. You are very welcome to this talk by Minister Kieran Cannon. Just before we do the introductions, a few housekeeping rules, if you could please turn off your phones or switch them to silent. If you do have them on silent, and you have web access you could tweet about the event at I-I-E-A. Ymlaen ymddir iaidol i gwneud y Chatham House Rules. Felly, y F�er willo'r ddau sy'n ei wneud yn eu newid. Byddwn i'r llei, yn ymddir iaidol, yn ymddir iaidol i'r llei. Dwi'n ddau'r ddweud i'r ddau'r ddau i'r ddau i'r ddau, ac mae'n gydag i ni'n ddau'r ddau'r ddau. Yddech chi'n gweithio yma, Rory de Burca? Yn rory? Mae'n ddweud i'r ddau, i gyrdd i'r gyrdd i'r ddau, I was here and will introduce the Minister. Afternoon. It's nice to see so many friendly faces here, for what I think is going to be really interesting. First unveiling of some of the elements that are going to be in the new white paper on development. And it's really good that Minister Kiran on Canon is here to do that unveiling because in a sense the genesis of our thinking around this paper coincided with the Minister's arrival in the department. And it's actually been a really interesting and special privilege for us to work with the Minister's background, particularly in education and his passion for education. And the knowledge that he's taken from that sector and brought in to enrich our thinking around the importance of education in development. And it's also, and you'll hear this, the Minister's passion for development. And I don't think you're mind me saying that you weren't really hugely knowledgeable about development before you came into the job. I'm still learning. And that's actually for us to be a really important journey because at the end of the day what we do in Irish Aid has to connect back home. It is about the citizens money which we try and invest as wisely as possible to affect change in other places. And having a Minister who's the citizens representative come on the journey with us to see the Minister learn and to get his enthusiasm and to get his feedback is really, really important. Has been a real privilege for us. And I think it's really helped us refine our thinking over the last year. So we're not quite finished yet. So what the Minister is going to give you is probably a bit tantalising and a bit of a tease. But that's good. And hopefully it provokes some further thinking. And just before I give the floor to him, I would just say we really benefited in the journey to even to get to this speech today from the inputs of many, many people, including many people in this room. We had about 185 really substantive quality considered written submissions. We had about 14,000 other written submissions, not necessarily full of rich policy advice but very supportive. And we had many hundreds of people came to the various public consultations along the way. So I just also want to say thank you to all of those who engage with us on the journey. And that's something we want to keep up and that's why today is also important because it's part of that feeding back and continuing the conversation. And that's something that the Minister and I were discussing actually even earlier on today. How important that continual conversation is going to be. But no further ado, Ciaran Cannan, the Minister of State for Development Cooperation and Trade. Thank you, Rory. And thanks to each and every one of you for joining us here today. Delighted to have the opportunity to contribute to this lecture series. The Development Matters Collaboration between Development Cooperation and Africa Division of our own department with the Institute of International European Affairs. That interaction is one that I value as do my colleagues in Irish Aid. And it's important to have a forum where the debate and discussion on critical international development issues takes place. A space for new ideas and exploration of collaborative opportunities for the future. And indeed Ireland's role as a whole in terms of the international development sphere globally. So the Development Matters series does not represent a single perspective on the development questions of our age. Rather it is plural, it is challenging, it brings a range of expertise and engagement both Irish and international. Which informs discussion not just in my department but much more broadly on issues which demand and require an international response. So with my fantastic team of people in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. We've been working as Rory said over the past year or so in developing a new policy on international development. That reflects where we are going to, how we formulate that international response and ultimately how we deliver it. That new white paper is nearing completion and as we've been thinking through the new policy. The questions debated here in Northgate, Georgia Street have taken on a particular resonance in that preparation process. And your discussions have enriched our thinking over in Ivy House and indeed in Limerick as well. Today I'm going to introduce the principle elements that are emerging at the centre of this new policy. Focusing on how Ireland is positioning itself internationally through its development cooperation and humanitarian assistance in response to emerging global challenges. And a key question on which you've been reflecting on is the trajectory for the world to 2030 that the target date for achieving the SDGs. And a key to unlocking our approach to achieving those goals is global Ireland. The government strategy for doubling Ireland's sphere of influence internationally, Ireland's global footprint and doing that by 2025 which is a date that's rapidly approaching. And in that strategy the government committed openly and transparently to achieving that UN target for ODA spend of 0.7% of GNI by 2030. And that's exceptionally important. But more important than money though is quality. And Ireland has an incredibly proud and hard earned reputation for quality development work. ODI, a respected development research body, found earlier this year that Ireland was the most effective donor at reaching those in the most extreme poverty. The Brookings Institution said a number of years ago that Irish aid was the outstanding aid donor measured against 31 of our peers. So as we grow and we evolve and we innovate we also need to protect that reputation and indeed enhance it and grow it in the years to come. Also recognising the scale of global poverty Ireland would be most effective when we influence others to join with us. And our key objective would be to continue to be to work to address the needs of those furthest behind. And if we are to make a difference Ireland's approach to development cooperation must use all of the tools in our national toolbox. Maximising our domestic policy resources and ensuring it's more coherent with our foreign policy influence. Enhancing the significant potential of our EU membership. Building upon our multilateral and bilateral relationships. Deepening our partnerships in areas of key concerns and ensuring that we get the most out of our investments. And let me dwell on that for a moment. Getting the most out of our investments. This of course means to continue to manage Irish aid funds prudentially particularly from a public financial management perspective. But it also means that we need to be pretty cold-eyed in our selection of partners and their capacity to deliver upon our objectives must be very very clear. It could ultimately mean a reduced number of partners accompanied by a deepening of the relationship with those partners so that we can maximise impact. And the key issue is going to be how do we amplify our voice through using our partnerships as effectively as possible. So we're giving very very careful thought to that as to how we might use research to most effectively resource and reinforce our impact. And in addition as we grow our capacity to manage and deliver will need to grow. Moving from a point where we're spending roughly about 800 million euro this year to spending two and a half billion by 2030. So that growth path obliges us to develop our capacities to deliver in terms of our international development programme in the future. And as Rory mentioned quite rightly underpinning all of that must be support from the Irish public, the Irish taxpayer. And that long-standing extraordinary generosity of the Irish people cannot be taken for granted. And that's why we've been thinking very very carefully about how that international development programme, about that trajectory to two and a half billion euro 0.7, how exactly that will resonate with our people over the decade ahead. We want to build on our development education programme, a really critical part of it I believe, engaging with our students and our schools around the country. And my colleague down there, Anne Griffin and I, we were visited Scariff National School about two months ago. Wonderful, beautiful national school and beautiful Eastlare on the edge of Loch Derg to talk about the STGs with sixth class and fifth class. So I thought we'll go in, we'll make the presentation, we'll admire all the usual posturing and research work around the wall and we'll be out in an hour, two and a half hours we were there. With an exceptionally engaged and informed group of young people. And that's the level of competence that is now emerging within our young people in terms of their knowledge of global issues and how we're going to respond to them. And we have a duty to them to be able to live up to their expectations in terms of how we respond. And we want Irish development assistance to be authentic to our experiences at home, recognising that within living memory there's been a massive change in Ireland. We've gone from effectively subsistence farming and emigration to a modern vibrant economy which welcomes people born elsewhere. 17% of the people living in this island were now born elsewhere. And along our journey there have been way stations such as, and I mentioned this quite regularly actually, I mentioned it at the Global Partnership for Education Pledging Conference in Dakar. Dunolm Alley's extraordinary decision in 1967 to introduce free secondary education, a visionary move that is now paying dividends 50 years later. The transformation of Irish agriculture which could also help mark the journey forward for our own development programme. Our peace process too can be an absolute beacon. So these changes at home also echo the contribution of so many of our Irish people abroad who've worked really, really hard to make other places better. Educators, health workers, farmers, peacemakers, these stopping points along the way also inform our own values who we are as a people. And our new policy has to make the expression of these values, who we are as a people, an absolutely core principle in terms of development of the policy. The departure of the United Kingdom for the European Union is a very significant moment for Ireland, including for our development policy. Ireland's place in Europe and our influence and our partnerships at the European table have to be seen as an integral part of our national effort. The European Union, its institutions, its member states are the world's most important actor on the development cooperation stage right now, collectively accounting for over half of global ODA. So the EU is a critical actor in the delivery of international policy frameworks for peace and security, humanitarian assistance, development, trade and investment. European companies are massive investors right now in the developing world, creating jobs, paying taxes, helping underpin the future of countries where they operate. And the collective contribution to the development by the European Union is a very important driver of positive change. So if our new policy for international development is to be meaningful, we have to strategically position Ireland's international development policy to reinforce our place, build on our influence as a strong and very committed member state of the European Union. And this in part should reflect Ireland's growing allocation to the EU's development cooperation instruments. And however it's also because as the remaining, we will be the only remaining English speaking country in the EU and I found this a lot when I travel abroad, when I engage with particularly Commonwealth countries. We will be the only English speaking country remaining within the EU and those countries which previously looked to London to express their interest to advocate on their behalf at a European level are now going to look to Dublin in a very significant way. And this is already the case as preparations begin for negotiating the post-cut new framework. Furthermore, under that global Ireland strategy, we want also to gauge beyond the Anglo sphere that our joining of a Francophonie as an observer reflects that changing focus and evolving focus and our ambition over the period ahead to deepen our footprint in French speaking Africa. We will build on our solidarity with least developed countries and deepen our engagement with small island developing states. And an expanding and deepening network of relationships supported by our international development policy should contribute to deeper Irish engagement with and utilization of the multilateral system. Ireland benefits extensively from an effective rules-based international system and that same rules-based international development with the United Nations, it facilitates a similar evolving international development program with the United Nations at its heart. And the agreement of the SDGs in 2015 within which Ireland played a very substantial role, that was the best of the United Nations in terms of how it's functioned over the last number of years. We were very, very proud to lead that working with Kenya as the nations of the world agreed those 17 goals that apply universally. And the SDGs, and we were told this repeatedly by those young people in County Clare, call on all countries to mobilize efforts to reduce poverty, to fight inequality and to tackle climate change. And the watch cry of the SDGs is to ensure that no one is left behind with an emphasis on reaching the furthest behind first. So in our new policy, our aim will be to extend our hand out to support those who are furthest behind. And as I said earlier on, we've a very proud track record in doing exactly that. The SDGs opened the way for new forms of collaboration and innovation, very welcome development, together with a series of aligned international policy frameworks including the Paris Climate Agreement, the very first international treaty to deal with climate change, the Alasababa Agenda for Action on Finance for Development, the new deal for fragile states, the grand bargain of the World Humanitarian Summit and the forthcoming global compact on refugees and migrants. And a united transformative integrated approach is urgently required so that we can all follow through on this very ambitious global agenda. However, notwithstanding the optimism and the enthusiasm that surrounded the agreement of the SDGs and the agenda which I've just outlined, there is arguably a more fragmented view internationally on how to respond to development challenges. There are competing narratives and in some cases a more selfish expression of interest, put it mildly, reinforcing the multilateral system will help address these issues though we must be realistic. It's going to require time before a global consensus and development such as that achieved in Paris and Acric can be rebuilt. And Ireland's new approach must reflect current realities as we prepare for the future with a response to a very complicated international scene defined by our own values. So, as we finalize our thinking, it's clear that the policy must be built on the foundation of the SDGs that goes without saying that they provide that interconnected international policy framework which allows us the space to specialize, to sharpen our focus in a context where to try to respond to every single call to action when actually diluter efforts and dilute the effectiveness of our efforts. And I've said before the primary focus has to be on those who are furthest behind. So we're going to have a central focus on addressing extreme poverty, vulnerability and marginalized groups. We are going to build on that track record of reaching the poorest and the most vulnerable. We do recognize that there is much to do and reaching those to date who have been left out of progress as economies develop worldwide. Those that are furthest left behind are more difficult to identify and reach out to support. So we're going to have to perhaps evolve our approach there. And we've identified a number of key areas which we are working to flesh out. These include reducing humanitarian need, promoting gender equality, strengthening our work to address climate change and to strengthen governance. We want to work in a structured and strategic way across all of those key strategies such that each actually reinforces the other. A culture at all times of respect for human rights will underpin our work. We will use our leadership and our influence in multilateral forums to build collective support for targeted actions in support of interventions in these areas. We celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement this year. And we have that collective national memory of horrendous conflict that most of us in this room grew up with. And the coming together of the two communities and finally a sustained and lasting peace being drawn out from that. So we have a strong track record and a huge credibility internationally in that area. And conflict prevention and protection will be a key focus again of the new policy. Building on that experience here at home, responding to the call from the UN Secretary General on the need to focus absolutely on prevention. We will seek to reinforce the intersections between Ireland's peacekeeping and conflict resolution work, political engagement, development, cooperation and humanitarian action, which ultimately are all interlinked. Over the past few years the amount of our funding, and you all know this because we've made some very significant funding announcements. The amount of our funding required to meet humanitarian needs, urgent humanitarian needs, has increased substantially most often due to conflict. And we've a moral duty to prevent conflict and human suffering. To do so also has an important practical effect in that it will enable us to invest our development funding in delivering the STGs rather than simply ameliorating the terrible effects of war. An area where we will do more will be to mitigate the impact of climate change in the developing world. And again we've seen that climate change is having an actual disproportionate effect on the most vulnerable yet again. And a challenge which we must address will be to build climate responsiveness across all of the program. And yes, build greater coherence between our domestic climate change policy and foreign policy so that we do make pronouncements of a global nature on the collective responsibility that we're showing to be acting responsibly in terms of our policies here at home. I was fortunate earlier on the year to visit Fiji and Samoa to meet with a number of their ministers and we are now beginning to form some very positive and hopefully productive alliances with small island development. We are developing states around the world. We are a small island state ourselves. They are facing a significant challenge in terms of climate change and we are beginning to see the early effects of it here as well. And at the recent Enonga in New York in September there was a powerful contribution from the Prime Minister of Tuvalu. He said that if the current level of encroachment continues in 30 years time, his country will no longer exist. And it was a significant wake up call to all of us that were in the room listening at the time. And we can't allow that to happen. All the attendant human misery visiting the Fiji minister for the environment to hear they've moved 11 of their villages inland in the last two years and they plan to move 90 more in the next five years. So it's real. It's happening and we need to be at the forefront of working with the small island development states in amplifying that message internationally. And I'm also conscious that there's a significant gender impact of climate change and it's particularly acute and again we need to keep that to the fore as we think through our next steps. A hallmark of Ireland's development story has been the building of effective, accountable and inclusive institutions. And while there's always room for improvement, Irish institutional effectiveness has been one of the elements which has seen us become one of the oldest unbroken democracies in Europe. And I believe that if we are to encourage sustainable development, a key component will be to again to reinforce the effectiveness, the accountability and the inclusivity of institutions in our partner countries. We're going to focus in particular on maintaining and expanding civil society space. Civil society has been at the core of our development policy and currently the proportion of development assistance channeled through civil society is nearly double the OECD average. And in the context, thankfully, of an expanding budget, there will be clearly year on year dynamics and some rebalancing. However, civil society will remain at the heart of our work as it has been over the last 50 years of Ireland's official development cooperation programme. We're going to build on our experience as a nation and as a donor in developing food and agriculture systems. And it's a wonderful story to tell in terms of the Ireland of my grandparents living in rural East Galway farming to feed the family and not much more than that to the point now where Ireland produces enough food to feed 11 Ireland. So we have a wonderful story to tell there, a wonderful lived experience to share internationally. And also memories of the famine have informed our traditional focus on combating hunger. And of course there's much more that we can draw from that folk memory, but in particular that experience of transforming Irish agriculture in recent decades and building a world class and highly respected food industry. That's really one that captures people's imaginations elsewhere. I met this week with ministers both in Thailand and in Vietnam. That was a story they wanted to hear. Two stories they wanted to hear was our educational system transformed from the Ireland of my father to the Ireland of my son and also that extraordinary story of our agricultural evolution. And we have huge credibility in that area. So we're reflecting on how we can bring the best of that transformative process to others around the world. And it's not just the story about food, but also of life in the countryside, of industrialisation, of connection, of education, and bringing it all together, bringing all that together, our people. And the STGs are a manifesto for youth asking us to make their future more sustainable. And just before we came here, Rory and I had a very, very interesting conversation with young members of the One Foundation, young people aged roughly about 18 to 20 who were very, very passionate about the STGs and Ireland's role in terms of delivering the STGs. Because they have serious skin in the game. This is the world that they are inheriting and they really want to be seen right now to be at the forefront of ensuring that it's developed in a very, very sustainable way. So our new policy must reflect their views and must also meet their needs at home through development education and abroad through delivering on our promises and our commitments in our new policy. So our work in health and education, our focus on gender, on sustainable livelihoods, will deliver a dividend on each of a person's first 10,000 days. And these are the bridges we build with youth through our fellowship programme. Again, extraordinarily life-affirming experience to meet some of those graduates earlier on this year. Those scholars who come to Ireland for postgraduate study because these are bridges and relationships that we want to reinforce and strengthen. Because when you hear the contributions from some of those graduates that we heard in Ivy House earlier this year, they want to take the experienced leans from living in Ireland, the very significant academic empowerment they receive here. They want to take that back. They don't want to remain here. They don't want to remain in Europe. They were all of them going back to their own country, their home countries, and using that newfound experience to solve some of the series and significant challenges that those countries face. So we want to actively explore those opportunities in the future. Other connections, linking Irish people through really dynamic interactions and true partnerships. Because that sense of holistic exchange is really at the heart of the STGs. It's very much the spirit of the STGs. People are what we are about. Tangible connections in faraway places. And you can only imagine those young people, those graduates returning having experienced that scholarship opportunity in Ireland. That fondness that will retain throughout their lifetime for Ireland and the appreciation they have for the support received from the Irish people in terms of enhancing their own skill set. And we will always be linked by those bonds of friendship and solidarity. People have been at their heart, always been at their heart of the relationships and the partnerships developed in delivering Irish development cooperation around the world. We are part of the unique character of what we do. There's no question about that. We are a team in green, a team in politics, in the department, in all of our Irish NGOs working with Ireland and Europe. We are our partnerships, whether with multilateral organisations such as the United Nations Agencies, international humanitarian organisations or international financial institutions. We are our bilateral relations, the quality of our friendships, whether in the European neighbourhood in Africa and Latin America, Asia, or with one of those tiny small island states. Those relationships, the quality of our friendships, they define us as a people. And actually those friendships are simply our global influence. So when we seek to double that sphere of influence by 2025, it is about developing really strong lasting and quality friendships. And if we are to respond effectively to those global challenges, we have to do it on the basis of those friendships. So our new development policy is an investment in friendship, in global public good, in good neighbouringness. But good friendship means speaking the truth. Good friendship is steadfast but not foolish. Good friendship is rooted in trust. It has to be. A trust which has to be reciprocal. And good friendship is based on understanding. So we must invest in our understanding if our development policies are to be successful. We need to be flexible and innovative where required. All is with an eye for desired results. And those results should be agreed in a real spirit of partnership. We are always open. We have been and we remain so open to new approaches including private sector participation in development interventions and fostering technological innovation for development because yet again perhaps the final leg of the three-legged stool, agriculture, education and technology are perceived internationally as Ireland's strengths right now. And we do have huge credibility in terms of our successes in those areas. So we need to use all of those strengths in terms of our development interventions in the future. Ladies and gentlemen, before taking up this current position like most other members of the political sphere, I had limited personal exposure to the work of Irish Aid. I have travelled since for the last nearly 17 months now extensively. As I mentioned earlier on, most weeks need to be at NAM. And every single place I go I have borne witness to the extraordinary work that happens as a result of the work of Irish Aid and the people and the entities that we partner with. We are making an incredible difference to the lives of millions of people in over 130 countries last year. And it is our responsibility to ensure we continue making that difference. And the drafting of the new policy in international development is now well in hand informed in the large part by the fantastic response and I think somewhat to a certain extent surprising response to our public consultation process. And also the engagement of our Irish NGOs of which we are very proud and indeed others. So at this point in time I have given you a flavour of the direction in which we are travelling. We hope to have the policy the paper published by the end of the year. I might be looking over the final draft for Christmas lunch. So we are going to be working to develop the ideas. We need to further flesh out some elements of it but it is so, so important. I am sure you will agree with me that we have to get this right. Because it is important for those whom we want to help. But it is also important for Ireland. Good development, well delivered in accordance with our values. It helps shape, it helps to protect our home, our safety, our prosperity. It is an investment in our global neighbourhood. And again those young people today have spoken exactly those terms of being interconnected with the global neighbourhood and never shrinking world in terms of the exchange of information and that sense of a deep connectedness with people worldwide. We need to protect our home, we need to protect our safety and protect our prosperity. Simply put, to be frank, it is in our selfish and strategic interest that we make this work to the greatest possible extent. Thank you very much indeed.