Brian O'Shea
Ceist:81 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs when Ireland will reach the UN target of 0.7 per cent of GNP for overseas development aid; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12035/99]
Written Answers. - Overseas Development Aid.
The Government, along with most of its donor partners, is committed to the UN target of 0.7 per cent of GNP for official development assistance – ODA – and to reaching an interim target in the lifetime of this Government of 0.45 per cent of GNP. Very significant progress has been made towards these targets in recent years.
On the basis of the latest figures available, official development assistance for 1999 will reach £171 million, the highest amount in the 25 years of the existence of an Irish aid programme. This amount will amount to 0.33 per cent of GNP, up from 0.31 per cent in 1998.
It is estimated that ODA will reach at least £186 million in the year 2000 and at least £213 million in 2001. The figure for 1998 was £144 million.
It will be noted that these figures are different from those quoted in answer to a question in March. They have been revised on the basis of new information supplied by the EU Commission on the portion of the Irish contribution to the EU budget which is used for aid purposes.
Only seven years ago in 1992, ODA was a mere £40 million. There has, therefore, been over a four-fold increase in ODA in that seven year period and there will be in excess of a five-fold increase by 2001. No other donor country can claim such a rate of expansion in the period. Expressed as a percentage of GNP, the increase from 1992 to 2001 will be from 0.16 per cent to 0.36 per cent at least.
As the House is aware, the main factor in the increase in ODA this year and in the next two years is the Government's agreement to planned increases in Vote 39 in the period 1999 to 2001. This commitment is without precedent in our programme. It provides the single biggest set of increases in the history of Irish aid and it allows for the first time for multi-annual budgeting for long-term, sustainable development programmes in our priority countries, which are among the poorest in the world. This applies also to what we provide to deal with man-made and natural emergencies, for our voluntary contributions to UN and other multilateral aid agencies, for the Agency for Personal Service Overseas, APSO, and for our assistance through NGOs. Importantly too, these increases are in addition to the package announced some months ago for debt relief.
What has been agreed is that the aid allocation administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs will amount to at least £400 million in the period 1999 to 2001. Specifically, the aid subheads of Vote 39, the Vote for International Co-operation (Subheads C to G inclusive), will amount to not less than £106.374 million in 1999, £136.400 million in 2000 and £159.200 in 2001. These are guaranteed minimum figures which do not preclude the allocation of even larger amounts.
This agreement underpins the growth of the aid programme and marks further increments towards the interim target of 0.45 per cent of GNP and the ultimate goal set by the UN of 0.7 per cent of GNP.