Patrick Paul Walsh of the School of Politics and International Relations at University College Dublin talks to us about the future of overseas aid.

Dr. Walsh is currently on secondment to the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, where he works as Vice President of Education and the Director of the Sustainable Development Goals Academy. He voices his support for continued efforts towards sustainable development goals, for the greater good: “What it says is that you actually do care for people and nature outside your own jurisdiction. And that you do have a responsibility for them. To operate outside of that would be very, very dangerous.”

The most recent figures from the OECD show that international aid from donors fell in 2024 by over 7%. And the headlines have been dominated, this year, by the dismantling of USAID - the largest historical provider of aid. Dr. Walsh questions the lack of a contingency plan for such a big withdrawal of money: “Did anyone think of insuring the project for anyone pulling out? Was there any contingency plan for this? How do, suddenly, the doors shut, and people who need important medicines or orphanages… how do these just close overnight?”

Where do we go from here? How do we continue to address global issues, like peace and security, climate change and human rights? Dr. Walsh says people are now looking at other ways of potentially financing developing countries: “We’re kind of thinking how do we finance a sustainable planet. And all countries need to be involved in sustainable development pathways. It’s all people everywhere, not just governments of the developing world…. People are starting to think, why wouldn’t richer countries provide state guarantees? Why wouldn’t they go in with intergovernmental banks? And why can’t big insurance companies do all the modelling and risk analysis? The bottom line is… the money would be there.”

Dr. Walsh believes, firmly, that Ireland should continue to push for an international rules-based order and multilateralism, ways in which sustainable development goals can be achieved. As many countries scale up militarisation and misalign themselves with international law, he believes that operating outside of an international order would be very, very dangerous: “We have to do everything possible to promote diplomacy across the world, for everyone. We never should get behind any flags that are against that. And, of course, if they break international law, you call them out. Of course, you support court cases against them in international courts, but you are basically neutral and you want the international order to work, and you keep pushing for that.”

Presented and produced by Evelyn McClafferty.

With thanks to our donors: Irish Aid.

Note: The views and opinions expressed in this episode do not necessarily represent those of IRLI or Irish Aid.