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Overseas Development Issues

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 June 2013

Tuesday, 11 June 2013

Questions (115, 116)

Maureen O'Sullivan

Question:

115. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on whether there is a discrepancy between the conclusions at the 3241st meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council on 28 May, adopting the Annual Report 2013 of EU Development Aid Targets, and the indicative amounts contained in the annexe to those conclusions; if he recognises that the EU member states reiterate their promises to increase their overseas aid budgets in order to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals, but that the vast majority of those States have not made provisions for delivering the amounts of funding required to do so; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27446/13]

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Maureen O'Sullivan

Question:

116. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will clarify the amounts indicated in the annexe to the conclusions at the 3241st meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council on 28 May; if he intends to drop overseas development aid levels to 0.44%; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27447/13]

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Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 115 and 116 together.

The Development segment of the Foreign Affairs Council, which I attended in Brussels on 28 May, adopted Conclusions on the 2013 Annual Report to the European Council on EU Development Aid Targets.

The Conclusions note a decrease in collective EU Official Development Assistance (ODA) from €56.2 billion in 2011 to €55.2 billion in 2012. This represents a reduction from 0.45% to 0.43% of EU Gross National Income (GNI). The Conclusions also note that, despite continued budgetary constraints across the Union, the EU remains the largest provider of development assistance globally, accounting for over half of total ODA provided to developing countries.

The Council reaffirmed the commitment by the European Council in February this year to respect the EU’s formal undertaking collectively to commit 0.7% of GNI in Official Development assistance by 2015. The Union and its Member States also reaffirmed their individual and collective ODA commitments, taking into account the exceptional budgetary circumstances in Europe at present.

I believe it is a very significant achievement in the most difficult circumstances that the Government has broadly stabilised the levels of Ireland’s development assistance, following several years of budgetary reductions. In 2011, Ireland provided a total of €657 million in ODA, or 0.51% of GNI. In 2012, we provided €629 million, which amounted to 0.48% of GNI. This amount is listed in the Council Conclusions, along with a forecast prepared by the European Commission of spending on ODA by Member States for the years 2013, 2014 and 2015. The figures for Ireland for 2014 and 2015 are purely indicative, based on current ODA levels.

The Government is strongly committed to Ireland’s overseas aid programme. Last month we launched Ireland’s new Policy on International Development, “One World, One Future”. The policy clearly sets out our vision for a sustainable and just world, and our goals and areas of focus for the coming years. It reaffirms the Government’s commitment to international development and its centrality to our foreign policy.

The new policy restates the commitment in the Programme for Government to achieving the UN target of providing 0.7% of GNP for Official Development Assistance (ODA). We will work to maintain our ODA levels broadly at current levels until economic circumstances permit us to make further progress towards achieving the 0.7% target. Preparations for the Budget for 2014 are currently under way. While I am firmly committed to working to maintain the aid programme at its current level, the final allocation for ODA is a matter for Government decision and will be announced in the Budget Statement.

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