Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 November 2012
61. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which the countries worldwide now deemed to be the top ten world's poorest countries; the extent to which the international community continues to engage in a co-ordinated effort to address the situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50462/12]
View answerSince the Millennium Development Goals were agreed by global community in 2000, the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen significantly – including in sub Saharan Africa where rates were highest. Since this time many more children have access to safe water; more girls and boys are attending school, and far fewer people are dying of preventable illness such as malaria and HIV. Much of this progress is attributed to the positive impact of international development assistance.
These achievements, however, are unequally distributed across the world. Countries, such as Haiti, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have the highest proportion of the population living below the poverty line in the world, and the least stable economic, health and education systems. In these situations the presence of extreme poverty usually coincides with significant obstacles, including limited resources, disease, famine and war.
There is a recognition that, in the future, international development assistance has to be increasingly targeted at those countries where rates of poverty are highest and where least progress has been made since the launch of the Millennium Declaration in 2010.
At a major international conference on development in Busan, Republic of Korea in 2011, the international community signed up to a ‘New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States’. It calls for a country-led vision and plan which donors should use to coordinate their support. This will reduce duplication of effort and ensure that resources get to those who need them most.
The OECD has recognized that Irish Aid, the official aid programme of the Irish Government, is sharply focused on the needs of the poorest countries of the world and allocates a far greater proportion of its assistance to least developed countries in Sub Saharan Africa, than other bilateral donors. The recent national consultations for the Review of the White Paper on Irish Aid indicated that Irish people wanted this sharp focus on the needs of poor countries and communities, to continue in the future.
Ireland is fully supportive of this new international focus on countries where limited progress has been made in addressing poverty and disadvantage. The Government is committed, in the context of our preparations for the Presidency of the European Council in 2013, to highlight the development needs of fragile states and to ensure the particular needs of the world’s poorest countries are prioritized at the United Nations Review of the Millennium Development Goals, in September 2013.
