Charlie O'Connor
Ceist:344 Mr. O’Connor asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs his plans to continue to tackle poverty issues in the African Third World countries. [22303/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 29 September 2004
Ceisteanna (163)
Freagraí scríofa
The Government is committed to continuing the fight against poverty in Africa and other parts of the world. Government spending on official development assistance has increased substantially in recent years. In 2004, Ireland's ODA is likely to amount to €475 million. Development Co-operation Ireland, the official overseas aid programme of the Government, has the reduction of poverty as its core objective. Over half of Ireland's ODA is channelled to the world's least developed countries, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa. This is the largest share of any of the OECD countries. Development Co-operation Ireland has a particularly close relationship with six countries in Africa, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Lesotho, Mozambique and Zambia. These are known as "programme countries" and form the main focus of our bilateral long-term development activity. South Africa and Timor Leste are also significant partners. Sectors which benefit from assistance from Ireland include health, education, water and sanitation and AIDS-HIV.
We are conscious of the important links between good governance and poverty reduction and priority is also given to programmes to enhance good governance, respect for human rights and the elimination of gender inequalities. The promotion of environmental sustainability is also another important priority for Development Co-operation Ireland. At international level, Ireland is strongly committed to the complete elimination of all debts for heavily-indebted countries and to improving access for developing countries to international trade, both of which are major concerns to countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Much of our assistance to cope with emergencies and recovery from natural or man-made disasters is also targeted at sub-Saharan Africa. To date this year, we have allocated over €36 million for the emergency and recovery programmes in countries such as Zimbabwe, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya. The Government will continue to work closely in these countries, particularly with Irish NGOs and missionaries. In 2004, almost €30 million has been allocated to Irish NGOs through the multi-annual programmes scheme, MAPS, and most of these funds are targeted at sub-Saharan Africa. We also support the work of the Irish missionary community in Africa through the Irish Missionary Resource Service. So far this year, over €11 million has been allocated to Irish missionaries through this service, with the bulk of the assistance also going to sub-Saharan Africa.