Vol. 568 No. 1
294 Ms M. Wallace asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the overseas Ireland Aid budget total allocation for 2001, 2002 and 2003; if it is the Government's intention to continue to make progress towards the UN official development assistance target for member countries of 0.7% of GNP; and the plans the Government has to reach this figure by 2007 as set out by the Government in September 2000. [15274/03]
The Government's national programme of assistance to developing countries comprises two elements. The major component is my Department's Vote for international co-operation also known as the Ireland Aid programme, €374 million in 2003, while elements of ODA, expected to total some €80 million in 2003, are administered by other Government Departments. Total ODA for 2003 is expected to reach some €450 million, our highest ever level of spending on development co-operation.
The amounts allocated to the Vote for international co-operation for the years 2001 to 2003 are as follows: 2001, €239,411,654; 2002, €339,906,000, revised; and 2003, €374,009,000.
The increased allocations have been pursuant to the Government's commitment to achieving the UN target for ODA of 0.7% of GNP by the end of 2007. The scale and timing of future increases in funding required to achieve the 0.7% target will be reviewed on an ongoing basis.
Question No. 295 answered with Question No. 292.
296 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on the fact that since the American invasion of Afghanistan the amount of heroin exported from the country has doubled; if he has raised this matter with representatives of the American or Afghan Governments; if his attention has been drawn to the developing medical crisis in that country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15566/03]
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, based in Vienna, which conducts annual opium production surveys, recorded that during the 1990s Afghanistan had become the largest source of illicit opium and of its derivative, heroin, in the world. By 1999, Afghanistan accounted for approximately 70% of global illicit opium production, or 4,600 tonnes. In its last year in power, 2001, the Taliban imposed a ban on production – enforced by that totalitarian regime's characteristic methods of draconian repression – which caused production to plummet to 185 tonnes for that year.
The resulting depletion of supply caused a sharp rise in prices, coinciding with the removal of the Taliban from power, thus providing both an incentive and an opportunity for the planting of the poppy plant during the immediate post-Taliban power vacuum. According to the UNODC, by the time the newly established Afghan Interim Authority was in a position in January 2002 to issue its own strong ban on opium cultivation, processing, trafficking and consumption, most opium poppy fields had already begun to sprout.
In April 2002, the Afghan Interim Authority launched an eradication campaign. However, its efforts could not prevent opium production from rising to approximately 3,400 tonnes for the year 2002.
President Karzai has rightly declared the continuing existence of an opium-based economy to be a matter of concern in regard to national security. It is also a matter of international security in the broadest sense of the term. The UNODC is mobilised to work with the Afghan administration, other UN agencies and donor countries, to address the broad issue of drugs and crime in Afghanistan through the implementation of a comprehensive strategy. The strategy involves five main sectors: (i) policy support, legislation and advocacy, (ii) drug law enforcement; (iii) mainstreaming drug control in development assistance, (iv) drug demand reduction, and (v) monitoring and assessment.
Ireland has supported the global efforts of the UNODC in 2002 and 2003 through annual voluntary financial contributions of €500,000. Funding was specifically earmarked by Ireland in both years for projects in Afghanistan. In 2002, Ireland made a contribution of US$117,000 to a programme for a drug demand reduction information advice and training service for Afghanistan. We are committed to funding a larger project on capacity building for drug demand reduction in 2003.
Under the Action Plan on Drugs 2000-2004, the EU is engaged with the provision of a wide range of technical assistance to Afghanistan, including anti-production and anti-consumption schemes and support for alternative livelihoods in poppy producing areas, as well as complementary programmes aimed, for example, at reinforcing customs and border controls in the region.
