The total official development assistance (ODA) budget for 2009 will be €696 million. Some €571 million will be administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs, with the balance of €125 million being contributions to development co-operation by other Government Departments and through Ireland's allocation to the EU Development Co-operation Budget. On current projections, total funding of €696 million will represent 0.48% of Gross National Product (GNP) in 2009. Expenditure on ODA in 2008 amounted to 0.58% of GNP. Ireland is currently ranked sixth in the OECD countries and fifth in the EU in terms of our per capita and percentage shares of GNP spend on official development assistance. I regret that it has been necessary to reduce funding to the development assistance programme for 2009. The decision to reduce the budget was difficult but necessary in the context of the economic situation that the country faces. The reduction is one of a series of measures designed to restore the public finances and establish a solid platform for renewed economic growth. I am acutely aware of the implications of the ODA cuts. Our aid programme is renowned internationally for its clear focus on the reduction of poverty and hunger and on the least developed countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. I am determined that we will maintain this focus and that we will continue to work closely with our partners in pursuit of our shared goals of reducing poverty in line with the Millennium Development Goals.
The Government decision to reduce the ODA budget for 2009 will make it more difficult to achieve the target of spending 0.7% of GNP on ODA by 2012. Nevertheless, we will continue to work towards the target. A full assessment of our capacity to achieve this goal will be made in the context of the preparation of the 2010 Budget. It is important to note that Ireland is still significantly ahead of all but a few EU member states in making progress towards achieving the broad EU 0.7% of GNP target in 2015. While I understand the disappointment in relation to the temporary reverse of the growth in our aid programme, it is worth stepping back a little to reflect on what we have achieved over the past few years. To have become the world's sixth biggest donor per head in a relatively short period of time is an extraordinary and unparalleled achievement. It is also expected that Ireland will retain this ranking in 2009. This remains an enormous achievement. A major review of Ireland's aid programme by the OECD, a key peer review which is carried out every five years, will be published shortly. It states that "Ireland is a champion in making aid more effective". This is an important, independent, international endorsement of the work of our aid programme from which we can all draw pride. It confirms that the aid programme will remain one of the most effective in the world. We retain our core values of supporting the world's poorest people in a way that builds capacity and addresses the fundamental causes of poverty. We are determined that, once we have got our economy back into a pattern of sustainable growth, we can resume our expansion of our development co-operation volumes.
