I propose to answer Questions Nos. 3 and 16 together.
Ireland's Official Development Assistance, which consists of three main elements: contributions to international organisations active in development, bilateral aid and disaster relief, will grow during the period of the national plan, Building on Reality, from £34 million to £50 million, an increase of 47 per cent. As contributions to international organisations, usually described as multilateral aid, are not expected to increase at the same pace, it is expected that bilateral aid will almost double during the same period. This will permit an increase in the number of projects undertaken in longerterm development and the sending of an increased number of volunteers abroad through APSO, the Agency for Personal Service Overseas.
As the Deputy will be aware, our bilateral aid programme is concentrated on Africa where all four of our priority countries — Sudan, Lesotho, Zambia and Tanzania — are located. Taking the various elements together it is estimated that roughly two-thirds of our total ODA — which in 1985 will amount to £38.36 million goes to the African Continent.
The situation in Africa resulting from food shortages continues to be a matter of great concern. It is clear on the basis of information becoming available since the question was tabled that millions of people are at risk because of inadequate food supplies and that the crisis is set to persist for some time yet.
The House can be assured, however, that significant efforts are underway both by the Governments of the countries concerned and by the international community with a view to averting further catastrophe. International co-operation in this regard was comprehensively reviewed at a United Nations conference in Geneva on 11-12 March 1985. Ireland has played an active part in these efforts both as a member of the European Communities and on its own account.
The Community is an important source of assistance, including food and other emergency aid to developing countries. Following an initiative of the Irish Presidency, the European Council, meeting in Dublin on 3 and 4 December 1984, decided that assistance to the countries affected by food shortages should be significantly further increased by the provision of 1.2 million tonnes of cereals in the period leading up to the next harvest in the countries concerned, later this year. At a recent review of commitments under the Dublin plan it emerged that this target will, in fact, be exceeded.
Ireland also contributes to the relief efforts of other international agencies. For example, a shipment of 2,413 tonnes of wheat flour was sent to the Sudan recently to be used in a project of the World Food Programme in support of refugees in Ethiopia. At a donors meeting convened by the Office for Emergency Operations in Africa on 31 May, Ireland pledged £100,000 towards projects being carried out in the Sudan by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Contributions to alleviate the present famine emergency in Africa and the natural disasters elsewhere in the world, such as the cyclone which recently ravaged Bangladesh, are met from the Disaster Relief Fund. The provision this year is £629,000. In addition to the pledge of £100,000 mentioned above, some £350,000 has been used to meet the cost of transporting 2,000 tonnes of grain, milk powder and seed potatoes to Ethiopia.
A second shipment, comprising skim milk powder and anhydrous milk fat, was recently sent to the Sudan for distribution to famine victims through the Gezira dairy co-operative project, a long term project developed with our bilateral aid funds.
In addition to these official efforts, the public have responded particularly generously to the appeals of the Irish non-Government organisations involved in providing assistance to famine victims in Africa, as the House will be aware. The House can also be assured that there is extensive co-ordination and co-operation, between the Government's efforts and those of the non-Governmental organisations.
I am satisfied with our response. There are, of course, no grounds for complacency regarding the prospects of the countries concerned in the short or even the medium term. It is certain that a crisis of exceptional proportions will continue to exist for some time. It is therefore necessary that the international community should continue to seek ways of increasing the volume and effectiveness of their assistance. The House can be assured that Ireland will continue to play an active part in this process.
