Vol. 551 No. 2
144 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the steps taken since 26 June 1997 by the Government to increase the level and quality of development assistance afforded to developing countries by international organisations of which Ireland is a member; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9785/02]
Ireland's multilateral development assistance is channelled through a number of international bodies and organisations, in particular the United Nations and the European Union. Since the formation of the Government on 26 June 1997, Ireland's contribution to international aid organisations has grown significantly. Additional and more substantial contributions are anticipated in the coming years as the Ireland Aid programme expands to reach the UN target of 0.7% of GNP by 2007. Ireland will contribute €38.092 million to UN agencies in 2002, an increase of 45% from the 2001 level of €26.223 million. Ireland Aid's increasingly close involvement with UN agencies enables it to have a greater influence in shaping policy and monitoring expenditure. An important element of this approach is our policy of actively seeking positions on the executive boards of UN agencies. Ireland has just completed a three year term on the joint board of the UN Development Programme, UNDP and the UN Fund for Population Activities, UNFPA and recently became a board member of UNICEF. It is also a permanent member of the executive committee of UNHCR.
Ireland Aid has focused funding on UN agencies whose policies and programmes are most in line with the national objective of poverty reduction, such as UNDP and UNICEF. It targets resources on agencies that are committed to UN reform, have strong management and whose effectiveness can be gauged through results based budgets. Ireland Aid has commissioned independent reviews of the audit and evaluation systems of UNFPA, UNDP and UNICEF. In 2001 it reviewed the UN High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR and the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and it is now in the process of implementing the recommendations of the reports. These and other methods enable it to monitor carefully how donor resources are used and to encourage greater efficiency in UN development agencies.
As with the UN, Ireland has been working actively within the EU to improve the quality of its aid programmes. In recent years, these programmes have been hampered by management weaknesses, which have led to a backlog of unspent aid. Ireland has been to the fore in pressing the European Commission to reform the aid programme to address these problems. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, has raised this matter directly with Commissioners Neilson and Patten during their visits to Dublin over the past 18 months. Ireland has actively participated in the debates on this topic at the Development Council.
