Vol. 558 No. 3
100 Mr. Coveney asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the contributions made to the UNFPA in 2002; if this represents an increase on the 2001 contributions; and if his Department has developed a target for Irish funding of UNFPA in 2003. [24131/02]
The process of reform of UN funds, programmes and specialised agencies includes a commitment by donors to place the funding of these organisations on a predictable basis to facilitate greater coherence and planning in their work.
In this context, in 2000 Ireland made a non-binding multiannual indicative commitment to contribute to UNFPA's core resources over the next three years as follows: €1.27 million in 2001, €1.84 million in 2002 and €2.534 million in 2003. Ireland has fulfilled its financial commitment to UNFPA in 2001 and 2002. In 2003 Ireland will contribute the pledged amount of €2.534 million.
101 Mr. Coveney asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the level of Irish aid used to directly fund sexual and reproductive health programmes in developing countries; and if his Department plans to expand funding in this area. [24132/02]
As the Deputy may be aware, the Irish aid programme, Ireland Aid, and that of other donors is guided by the international development goals. Four of the eight goals are relevant to this area. They are: to promote gender equality and empower women, to reduce child mortality, to improve maternal health and to combat HIV-AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
In the Irish programme, the area of sexual and reproductive health is integral to the development of a broadly-based health service and health sector, to the creation of equal opportunities for women through the education system and also to the fight against HIV-AIDS. In the lastmentioned where the Ireland Aid approach is to mainstream the battle against HIV-AIDS across all elements of the programme in the seven countries in Africa, issues of behavioural change, family planning and mother-to-child transmission are elements of our approach.
In the health sector throughout all the countries where we are engaged, neo-natal care and mother and child health are priorities and part of both direct Irish interventions and of the combined donor support given to health sector programmes in the countries where we concentrate. There is an example of direct intervention in Zambia where Ireland Aid has been involved in the construction of maternity clinics run by midwives with the aim of relieving pressure on major hospitals and providing care and instruction in reproductive health and child nutrition.
Due to the fact that these efforts are in large measure integrated into the programme, it is difficult to give figures for the amount spent on them. However, I can say more generally that in 2001, the last year for which we have full accounts, €31.5 million was spent on health which is equal to 17% of the bilateral aid programme. It is also appropriate to mention that in 2002 a special budget-line was created to give effect to the pledge made by the Taoiseach in 2001 that an additional US$30 million would be spent each year in the fight against HIV-AIDS.
