Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 February 2019
61. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the degree to which various donor countries have contributed to international aid in line with their original promise; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10007/19]
View answerThe best known target in international aid proposes to raise official development assistance (ODA) to 0.7% of donors' gross national income. This target was included in a 1970's UN Resolution where each economically advanced country agreed to progressively increase its ODA to developing countries and to exert its best efforts to reach this target. While not many countries have achieved this target it has been reaffirmed on many occasions and remains an important benchmark that influences countries ODA allocations.
Total ODA in 2017 from members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) was equivalent to 0.31% of their combined GNI. That year, five DAC members – Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom – met the 0.7% United Nations target.
The Netherlands exceeded the UN ODA target of 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) every year from 1975 to 2012, but its percentage contribution dropped below 0.7% in 2013 and is currently at about 0.65%. Having achieved the target in 2016, Germany slipped back in 2017 to join 24 other DAC donors under the threshold.
Importantly, there has been an increase in funds flowing to countries most in need of aid, following several years of decline, with bilateral aid to least-developed countries increasing by 4% to $26 billion in 2017. Aid to Africa that year rose by 3% to $29 billion and, within that, aid to sub-Saharan Africa increased 3% to $25 billion.
In Global Ireland 2025, the Government strategy to double our global footprint and impact, the Government committed to delivering the United Nations target of 0.7% of GNI for ODA by 2030. This week the Government will publish a new policy for international development which will provide a framework for this expansion.
The Government has increased Irish ODA by 32% since 2014. Overall Irish ODA in 2019 is forecast to reach almost €817 million, an increase of 16% or approximately €110 million on the original 2018 allocation, and the highest allocation to ODA in a decade.
Ireland has developed a reputation over many years for delivering high quality, untied, focused and coherent development cooperation. Regular peer reviews by the OECD DAC provide solid evidence of this reputation and in 2018 Ireland was judged by the Overseas Development Institute to be the most efficient donor in targeting extreme poverty.
