Ireland is set to increase its overseas aid spending by around €115m every year for the next decade.

The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced the new international development policy, entitled 'A Better World' at an event in Dublin this morning.

The plan will see Ireland increase its overseas aid to meet the target of 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) set by the UN.

Ireland's overseas aid programmes already invest over €800m a year across 130 countries.

The new development policy will see the spending re-focused on four main goals - gender equality, climate action, good governance and combating poverty.

Centre of the world

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, the Taoiseach said Ireland "should be an island that is at the centre of the world" in terms of trade, investment and international development.

He said the country can afford to meet the UN target, "provided Brexit doesn't blow us off course or something calamitous doesn't happen to our economy."

"I know for some people, they may not be interested in this or don't believe it is a priority but I know there are a lot of people in the country who actually believe in this kind of work," he said.

Global challenges

I think a lot of people, even from a self-interest point of view, will understand that many of the problems that we face in Ireland whether it is security threats, whether it is drugs, whether it is migration, whether it is climate change - these are global problems and actually we can only deal with them at a global level.

"We want to be one of the leading small countries when it comes to peace keeping and when it comes to engagement in international institutions."

Overseas Aid

He said the policy continues to focus on "traditional relief when there is a crisis" as well as supporting good governance.

He said the increased focus on gender equality and climate change will benefit people in Ireland and around the world.

"We know that when you empower women and educate women that transforms societies - so we want to be part of that," he said.

"We want to be the island that helped to educate a million girls across Africa.

"We know that climate change is going to impact very severely on developing countries, thus causing big movements in terms of migration.

"We haven't seen the start of it yet if we have mass migration because of climate change - we really want to invest in that."

'A Better World'

The Government said the plan aims to and build on the strong reputation that Ireland has gained in international development since it launched its first programme in 1974.

Speaking at the launch this morning, the Tánaiste Simon Coveney said serious budget choices will have to be made in the coming years.

"We intend to reach the international target for overseas development assistance of 0.7% of GNI by 2030," he said.

"We didn't make this commitment as a government lightly.

"Those of you who understand where we are today and where we are promising that we are going to be will realise that this will involve difficult choices for future governments in terms of hose they prioritise spend."

The policy is part of the government's attempt to double the scope and impact of Ireland’s global footprint over the next six years.