Bernard J. Durkan
Ceist:17 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the reason Ireland will not meet its commitment to reach GNP targets as a contribution to the alleviation of world hunger and to assist third world development. [27726/98]
Written Answers. - Overseas Development Aid.
The Government is committed to maintaining an effective official development assistance (ODA) policy and programme. That commitment has been backed up by the largest-ever budgetary allocations for ODA. Budgetary growth has in turn facilitated effective policy development and programme planning.
The factual situation is that ODA has grown from £40 million (0.16 per cent of GNP) in 1992 to an estimated £137 million this year. The allocation for the present year, when originally made, was expected to be equivalent to 0.32 per cent of GNP. Because of exceptional GNP growth in the interim, however, the outcome is now expected to be 0.29 per cent in GNP terms. In financial terms, of course, the level of expenditure will nevertheless be significantly greater than ever before.
The expansionary trend is set to continue in 1999. The total allocation for 1999 is expected to amount to £153 million — an 11 per cent increase over the level for this year. This is expected to be equivalent to 0.31 per cent of GNP, even allowing for continuing strong growth of GNP.
In my view, these figures indicate significant progress in a short number of years. At the same time, I recognise that much remains to be done in terms of making further progress towards our interim target of 0.45 per cent and the ultimate United Nations target of 0.7 per cent of GNP as ODA.
A valuable recent innovation is the adoption, in addition to the GNP targets, of specific commitments to guaranteed minimum amounts for three years in advance for certain core elements of the programme, including emergency humanitarian assistance, rehabilitation assistance, co-financing of projects implemented by non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), bilateral aid of priority countries, the Agency for Personal Service Overseas and voluntary contributions to UN agencies. On this basis, there is a guarantee of substantial additional resources for the programmes concerned over the period to 2001, thereby facilitating more effective planning of aid activities. These elements of the budget will be increased by 66 per cent or £62.2 million over the next three years, amounting to a total of £400 million. This is an important and worthwhile development as the programmes concerned have been particularly prone to budgetary uncertainty in the past.
While the details of the expenditure plans for 1999 and subsequent years have not yet been fully worked out, I am confident that there will be steady growth in both financial and GNP terms. By 2001, we will be significantly closer to our GNP targets than we are at present. Within that overall expansion, there will have been particularly strong growth in the core elements of the programme.
In relation to the budgetary provisions for 1999 in particular, I am satisfied that the final Book of Estimates, when published, will show that all elements of the programme, including the provision for emergency humanitarian assistance, will be adequately funded.
Against that background, there can be no question about the strength of the Government's commitment to ODA. The House can be assured that the position in relation to ODA will continue to be positive for so long as the present Government is in office. That is something that we take as given. We do not contemplate any weakening of that position.
Those of us with ministerial responsibilities in relation to ODA face an exciting and challenging time in terms of policy and programme development in the context of the commitment to continuing budgetary expansion. We look forward with enthusiasm to confronting that challenge in the years ahead.