Dáil Éireann Debate, Monday - 11 September 2023
25. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs to provide a breakdown per country, of total funding allocated from Ireland's Aid Programme from the start of 2022 to date; if funding allocated to Ukraine since 2022 falls under Ireland's Official Development Assistance (ODA) Programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37529/23]
View answerThe Government's international development policy, A Better World, focuses on addressing the needs of countries and communities who are furthest behind. Ireland's assistance is channeled through multilateral organisations such as the UN, and international financial institutions such as the World Bank; funding to Irish civil society organisations; and bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) delivered in programmes implemented by our Embassies abroad.
Each year the Department of Foreign Affairs reports to the OECD Development Assistance Committee on overall expenditure on ODA against a set of internationally agreed statistical standards. This analysis informs the annual Irish Aid report which includes details of the top 30 recipient countries of Ireland’s bilateral ODA. The 2021 Irish Aid annual report is available publicly on the internet at October - Irish Aid Annual Report 2021 - Department of Foreign Affairs.
For 2022, the Government provided a total allocation of €1.045 billion for ODA: €605 million allocated to Vote 27 of the Department of Foreign Affairs and a further €440 million accounted for by the contributions of other Government Departments and Ireland's share of the EU Development Cooperation budget.
Reporting for 2022 is being completed and will be included in the 2022 Annual Report, to be published in October. It will show the exceptional impact of first-year costs for Ukrainian refugees in Ireland, which are ODA-eligible, and the impact of Ireland's increased share of the EU development cooperation budget. As a result, total ODA in 2022 reached €2.29 billion, representing 0.63% of GNI. Excluding costs related to Ukrainian refugees, total ODA stood at €1.41 billion, or 0.39% of GNI. It should be noted that in 2022, and again in 2023, none of the costs associated with the reception of Ukrainian refugees in Ireland has been sourced from the original ODA Budget allocation.
In addition to the first-year costs for hosting Ukrainian refugees in Ireland, the Government provided a total of €52.8 million in bilateral ODA for Ukraine in 2022, including €45 million from the Department of Foreign Affairs. This includes €20 million in humanitarian assistance, €20 million through the World Bank to support the Government of Ukraine to sustain critical government services and core government functions, €4 million to the European Reconstruction and Development Bank to support small businesses, and €1 million to the Council of Europe Development bank Ukraine Solidarity fund.
Other departments also provided significant contributions in bilateral ODA to Ukraine in 2022, both in monetary contributions and through aid in-kind such as medical supplies and assistance. For example, the Department of Health provided over €7 million in medical supplies including ambulances, blood bags, bio-protection suits and medical protection masks, while the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine provided €750,000 through the World Food Programme to assist small farmers in Ukraine.
