Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 12 June 2013
72. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade further to Parliamentary Question No. 128 of 28 May 2013, in which he stated that 20% of Irish Aid’s expenditure is on hunger reduction, if he will specifically detail the way this is measured and the type of expenditure that falls under Irish Aid’s definition of hunger reduction spending. [28210/13]
View answerCombating global hunger and under-nutrition is a key pillar of Ireland’s overseas development assistance programme, which is a central element of our foreign policy. This commitment was renewed last month when we launched Ireland’s new policy for international development, ‘One World, One Future’. In 2008, Ireland's Hunger Task Force called on the Government to work towards an indicative target of directing twenty per cent of our overseas development assistance budget to hunger-related activities by 2012. We have delivered on that target, and over 20% of the Irish Aid budget is now focused on the fight to reduce hunger.
All of the work of the aid programme on the reduction of poverty naturally has an impact on hunger reduction. However, the hunger target expenditure is made up of programmes and interventions which have a significant impact on hunger reduction. These include Irish Aid’s support for agriculture programmes which help poor smallholder farmers to boost their yields and diversify their crops, as well as our support for agricultural research for development. They also include Irish Aid’s support for nutrition programmes and interventions, school feeding programmes, food assistance programmes and emergency food distribution.
The social protection programmes supported by Irish Aid have a significant impact on hunger reduction and are also included in our hunger target. These programmes play an important role in addressing income poverty, and improve the ability of poor people to buy more nutritious food and to have two meals a day rather than one.
Health care, health education and improving the supply of drinking water and sanitation also have a significant impact on reducing hunger, and programmes which Irish Aid support in these areas are included in our hunger target.
Reaching and exceeding our 20% hunger target has involved a reorientation of our development programme to ensure a stronger hunger response at the global level and in the countries in which we work. It clearly marks Ireland out in global terms for our commitment in the fight against hunger and under-nutrition. We are determined to stay on track with this important work.
