Bernard Durkan
Question:283. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the extent to which the Irish Aid programme continues to meet its targets globally; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34213/21]
View answerThursday, 24 June 2021
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Irish Aid's objectives are outlined in A Better World, Ireland's international development policy. These reflect Ireland's strong commitment to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and its targets, which remain at the heart of our approach to international development. The Government's annual report on official development assistance is a useful resource which details the impact of Irish Aid's investments in the prior year. The most recent annual report is available on my Department's website at: https://www.irishaid.ie/media/irishaid/publications/Annual-Report-2019.pdf
Together with our partners, Ireland supports progress toward these goals and targets, and we are a well-respected donor. In 2020, Ireland's development programme was reviewed by its peers through the OECD Development Assistance Committee Peer Review mechanism. It found that Ireland is a strong development partner that 'walks the talk' on its poverty focus and on its commitment to least developed countries.
That said, the pandemic has dramatically set back development gains across the world and many SDG targets are in jeopardy. In 2020, over 100 million people became "extremely poor". The pandemic also generated a global education crisis, especially for girls, and reversed hard-won gains in gender equality. This will inform future programming choices.
Globally, reversing these setbacks will take considerable investment and effort from all stakeholders. Recovering the gains that have been lost due to COVID-19 is an important focus of our bilateral, multilateral and Team Europe global response.