Vol. 498 No. 4
106 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs further to Parliamentary Question No. 85 of 5 November 1998, the likely expenditure on overseas development aid in 1999; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27261/98]
139 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the reason he has not increased Ireland's contribution to overseas development aid in line with previous commitment and indications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27896/98]
141 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the amount of the proposed increase in Ireland's bilateral aid programme in 1998; the country or countries to benefit from this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27898/98]
143 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the expected increase in 1998 in Ireland's multilateral aid programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27900/98]
144 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has satisfied himself at the current level of Ireland's contribution in respect of overseas development aid; if this is in keeping with his expressed wishes in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27901/98]
145 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on whether Ireland's contribution in respect of overseas development aid is sufficient in view of UN targets in this regard and Ireland's economic position; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27902/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 106, 139, 141, 143, 144 and 145 together.
On the basis of the information currently available, official development assistance (ODA) in 1999 is expected to be in the region of £153 million.
This will be the largest ever allocation for Irish ODA. The figure for 1998 was £137 million. As recently as 1992, the comparable figure was only £40 million. Expressed as a percentage of GNP, the increase in the period 1992-9 is expected to be from 0.16 per cent to 0.31 per cent.
These figures indicate significant progress in a short number of years. At the same time, I recognise that much remains to be done in terms of making further progress towards our interim target of 0.45 per cent and the ultimate United Nations target of 0.7 per cent of GNP as ODA.
A valuable recent innovation is the adoption, in addition to the GNP targets, of specific commitments to guaranteed minimum amounts for three years in advance for certain core elements of the programme, including emergency humanitarian assistance, rehabilitation assistance, cofinancing of projects implemented by non governmental organisations (NGOs), bilateral aid to priority countries, the Agency for Personal Service Overseas (APSO) and voluntary contributions to UN agencies. On this basis, there is a guarantee of substantial additional resources for the programmes concerned over the period to 2001, thereby facilitating more effective planning of aid activities.
The principal beneficiary countries arising from the Irish Aid programme are the priority countries for Irish bilateral assistance: Ethiopia, Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Full details of expenditure are published in the Irish Aid annual report.
In relation to the volume of multilateral and bilateral ODA, the allocations in 1998 were £88.6 million for bilateral aid and £46.0 million for multilateral aid, including mandatory assessments as well as voluntary contributions. The corresponding figures for 1997 were £78.9 million and £39.1 million respectively. The details in respect of 1999 are not yet available.
