I thank the Chairman and members for inviting me to address the joint committee. I am grateful for this opportunity to present an overview of the work and achievements of Irish Aid in the last two years and our plans for 2008.
I am fortunate to have taken on this role at an exciting time as the programme expands to reach the UN target of spending 0.7% of GNP on overseas development assistance by 2012. The Government has allocated a total of €914 million to overseas development aid this year, representing 0.54% of GNP, an increase of €100 million on spending in 2006. The OECD recently ranked Ireland as the sixth most generous donor country in per capita terms in the world and this year’s allocation helps cement our leading position.
Our number one priority remains the fight against global poverty and exclusion. I would like to emphasise my personal commitment to that objective and to Ireland's contribution towards reaching the millennium development goals in the years ahead. These goals will continue to inform all Irish Aid plans and activities. The White Paper on Irish aid published in 2006 reiterated the principles and objectives of the programme and provides a clear road map at a time of significant change. In recent years Irish Aid has continued to focus its development effort on the poorest countries in the world, many of which are in sub-Saharan Africa. The designation of Malawi as our ninth programme country in the White Paper reinforced this Africa and poverty focus. It is one of the poorest countries in the world, ranked 166 out of 177 on the United Nation's human development Index. An embassy was opened in Lilongwe last year and I hope to see for myself the progress made in planning Irish Aid support for poverty reduction when I visit there in June.
We have made significant progress in the past two years with a number of new initiatives announced in the White Paper. These include the establishment of the hunger task force, the rapid response initiative, an interdepartmental committee on development and the opening of a volunteering and information centre in Dublin. I would like to give the committee a brief update on these initiatives and explain how they allow Irish Aid to respond in a more dynamic way to the needs of developing countries and promote public ownership of the programme.
The hunger task force brings together Irish and international experts to make concrete recommendations on improving food security and protecting rural livelihoods. It has met on a number of occasions under the chairmanship of the former Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr. Joe Walsh, and will travel to Malawi at the end of this month. It is expected to report by the middle of the year on contributing to halving world hunger and poverty levels by 2015. Irish Aid will immediately act on these findings.
The rapid response initiative launched last year has improved Ireland's capacity to respond in a more cohesive way to sudden emergencies. Essential humanitarian supplies are now pre-positioned in forward bases in Europe and Africa. A rapid response corps with over 50 Irish experts recruited last year is ready to be deployed at short notice to assist our partner agencies. A public appeal for a further 20 experts will be launched in the coming days. The corps is backed up with advance funding for key partners such as the United Nations, the International Red Cross and non-governmental organisations to allow them the flexibility to scale up their response capabilities at short notice. We will pay particular attention to the situation in Sudan, Chad and the Central African Republic in the coming months. The crisis in Darfur continues to destabilise the region. We intend to step up our humanitarian response this year in tandem with our contribution to the EU peacekeeping mission to Chad. As well as our work overseas, we will work to improve coherence in Government policy at home on development issues.
The interdepartmental committee on development, another key recommendation made in the White Paper, was established last year and I will chair its fourth meeting shortly. A particular focus will be skills transfer from Ireland for development purposes and promoting stronger Irish representation within staffing structures of multilateral organisations, including the UN. It is important also to build a sense of public ownership of the Irish Aid programme as expenditure reaches unprecedented levels.
The opening of the Irish Aid volunteering and information centre on O'Connell Street in Dublin last month fulfilled another White Paper commitment. The centre will help the public understand why and how public funds are being used for development and provide ideas on how to become personally involved. Some 50 schools groups are booked to visit the centre before July and over 45 public events relating to development are planned this year. Plans are also under way for Irish Aid to mark Africa Day on 25 May. I invite the Chairman and members of the committee to visit the centre and see this exciting new venue.
HIV/AIDS has a particularly devastating impact on the poorest and most vulnerable people in developing countries. Irish Aid now spends €100 million each year on prevention strategies and better access to treatment for this and other communicable diseases. We dedicate a greater proportion of our budget to fighting HIV and AIDS than any other European country.
Between 2002 and 2007 Irish Aid contributed €80 million to the global fund for AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. This support allowed over 700,000 men, women and children access to treatment and extended prevention and care services to many more.
Education is also key to the fight against poverty and exclusion. Irish Aid focuses on primary education where the needs are greatest. In Ethiopia, for example, we supported the training of 30,000 primary school teachers and the construction of 145 primary schools in 2006. Enrolment in primary schools in Lesotho has increased from 57% in 1990 to over 80% last year, again with Irish Aid assistance.
I cite these examples to give members an idea of how Irish funding is making a tangible difference to the lives of some of the world's poorest people. The populations of countries that have recently experienced conflict and instability are especially vulnerable. In 2006, the Government established a special budget for Sierra Leone and Liberia in recognition of their particular needs following years of civil conflict.
Our support to these and other fragile states will be stepped up this year. Other priority areas confirmed in the White Paper include the environment, gender and governance. We have a particular interest in promoting effective responses to climate change in developing countries and in gender equality, given its importance in development and human rights terms. Good governance and the fight against corruption are key to sustainable development and Irish Aid will finalise a strategy to guide its work in this area shortly.
We are also increasing our support to initiatives to build the capacity of the private sector in developing countries through our Traidlinks initiative and our funding for the Fairtrade network. Irish Aid has continued to work closely with non-governmental organisations, multilateral institutions and funds and governments in our partner countries over the past two years to achieve our objectives.
Some of Ireland's largest overseas development NGOs, including Concern, Goal, the Irish Red Cross, Oxfam, Trócaire, Self-Help International and others, will receive over €100 million from the Government this year in support of their efforts to combat poverty and suffering. We will also provide €20 million this year in support of the development work of Irish missionaries.
The United Nations and European Union have a crucial role in a co-ordinated international response to the complex challenges of global poverty. Our funding to the UN is channelled mainly to the UN Development Programme, UNICEF and the High Commissioner for Refugees. We are also at the forefront of UN reform and Ireland is currently co-chairing a UN working group on system-wide coherence. The group is working to make practical changes that will improve the effectiveness of UN operations, including its development agencies.
The European Union is the largest donor of development assistance in the world, providing almost €50 billion to more than 150 countries and territories in 2006. Ireland's contribution to the European Development Fund will amount to approximately €206 million between 2008 and 2013. We will also continue our support for the EU aid for trade initiative, which builds the capacity of poorer countries to participate in the international trading system.
In ongoing negotiations between the EU and Africa, Caribbean and Pacific countries on economic partnership agreements, Ireland has insisted on the needs of least-developed countries. Our position is that these agreements should be genuine development instruments and that the partner countries should not be materially worse off as a result of the negotiations.
Partnership remains a core principle for Irish Aid. I am convinced development efforts need to be driven and owned by local people and governments if they are to be successful in the long run. There are of course obstacles. Many of the countries with which we work have weak systems of governance and in some developing countries corruption and abuse of power are of particular concern. Corruption most affects those who are already vulnerable and impoverished. Irish Aid is responding directly. We are building the capacity of public institutions to fight corruption and also helping citizens to hold governments to account. This includes assistance for parliamentary oversight and support to bodies such as auditors general and government inspectorates. We also help to strengthen judicial systems and support civil society and the development of independent media in order that people are aware of their rights and can insist on them. In Uganda, for example, we are supporting reform of the justice system. In Ethiopia we are funding improvements to the audit functions within the government, while in Zambia we are contributing to the work of a special task force on corruption. Irish Aid funds Transparency International in its work to reduce tolerance of corruption worldwide. We are also working actively with the World Bank and United Nations agencies to agree strategies in this area.
It is important that the highest levels of accountability and public confidence are maintained for overseas development spending. Our programmes are regularly and intensively audited by independent audit firms, Irish Aid's evaluation and audit unit and the independent audit committee of the Department. Additional professional staff have been recruited by Irish Aid for this area in the past two years and our programmes and projects are routinely evaluated to ensure lessons are learned and that value for money is maximised.
We have an intense work programme ahead of us this year. Preparations are under way for the development assistance committee of the OECD peer review of Irish Aid which takes place next year. Ireland will also participate actively in international efforts to improve aid effectiveness, including at the OECD high level forum which will take place in Accra, Ghana, in September.
This year the decentralisation of the Irish Aid headquarters to Limerick is scheduled to take place. A major management review of the programme is under way to ensure we continue to have sufficient human resources with appropriate skills available to plan, manage and monitor the programme. The results of the review are likely to be ready by this spring.
During this period of significant change I am conscious of the need for regular dialogue with members of the Oireachtas and this committee, in particular. I know that in recent years a number of Deputies will have visited our programme countries and I am more than happy to facilitate such visits. It is important that the committee experience at first-hand our work in programme countries, the issues faced and the impacts we are having. I hope this co-operation between my Department and the committee will continue and intensify. While the rapid expansion of the programme has its challenges, I am confident that we will continue to deliver high quality results.
I have seen the difference we are making to the lives of the poorest of the poor during recent visits to Mozambique, Tanzania and South Africa accompanying the Taoiseach. Allow me to cite a number of examples of progress made. Irish Aid's partnership with the Government of Mozambique and the Clinton Foundation enabled over 44,000 people access to anti-retroviral drugs to combat HIV and AIDS by the end of 2006. Irish Aid funded projects in Uganda have contributed to a reduction in the HIV infection rate from over 30% of the adult population to approximately 6% currently. In Zambia, Ireland has financed a programme of well and borehole drilling in the northern province that now provides a sustainable source of fresh clean water for over 113,000 people. As increased resources are allocated to the programme in the coming years, we will work as hard as ever to ensure the focus on results continues. We have a duty to the taxpayer to ensure this is the case but also to people in developing countries for whom development assistance programmes such as ours can literally be a lifeline to a better future.
I hope I have addressed, at least in broad terms, the work of Irish Aid in recent years, the impacts and our immediate plans and priorities. I am happy to take questions.
