Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 June 2012
174 Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide a breakdown of the amount of money Irish Aid spent on responding to emergencies in the past three years; the main recipients of that funding and the balance between funding for the work of Irish NGOs, other NGOs, and multilateral institutions. [29399/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra175 Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the amount of money Irish Aid spent over the past three years to prevent emergencies occurring; and the funding available to strengthen the resilience of poor people and poor communities to withstand setbacks in tackling such emergencies. [29400/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra176 Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the criteria in place to systematically invest in the prevention of disasters in view of the fact that the existing Irish Aid Humanitarian Relief Policy (2009) does not specify the way Irish Aid intends to do this. [29401/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 174 to 176, inclusive, together.
The Government's approach to humanitarian assistance is set out in Irish Aid's Humanitarian Relief Policy, which identifies the primary goals of humanitarian action as saving lives, alleviating suffering and maintaining human dignity. This policy highlights Ireland's commitment to upholding the application of international humanitarian law and to the internationally-recognised humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence.
In keeping with the Humanitarian Relief Policy, Ireland has responded in a timely and effective manner over the past three years to large scale emergencies in Haiti, Pakistan, the Horn of Africa and more recently the Sahel Region. In addition, Ireland also pays particular attention to so-called protracted and "forgotten emergencies" — or those situations where the crisis continues but no longer commands the attention of the world's media. Such countries include Sudan, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Zimbabwe and Yemen.
Irish Aid's humanitarian funding is distributed through three groups of established partners: UN Agencies, the Red Cross Movement and NGOs (both Irish and other international NGOs). Efforts are ongoing to strengthen all of these partnerships, in recognition of the vital contribution that each group makes to effective emergency response globally. The balance of funding between these different categories of partners shifts depending on changing needs and priorities and an objective assessment of which agency is most competent to respond to a given crisis situation. Criteria for decision making are context specific depending on the nature of the crisis and the response required.
These funding arrangements are complemented by a more operational response capability through Ireland's Rapid Response Initiative. This includes the pre-positioning and transportation of humanitarian supplies to disaster areas as appropriate and a register of highly-skilled individuals, for deployment at short notice to assist in an emergency relief effort. The following table provides a breakdown of funding provided to Irish NGOs, other NGOs, the Rapid Response Initiative and multilateral agencies over the 2010 to 2012 period.
|
2010 € |
2011 € |
2012 to date € |
% of total% |
|
|
UN/Multilateral Agencies |
29,813,196 |
30,784,513 |
11,132,203 |
51.3 |
|
Red Cross Movement |
10,125,000 |
13,275,000 |
100,000 |
16.8 |
|
Irish NGOs |
13,982,927 |
13,073,970 |
4,727,220 |
22.8 |
|
Other NGOs |
248,516 |
400,000 |
0 |
.5 |
|
Rapid Response Corps |
1,642,211 |
1,830,367 |
470,262 |
2.8 |
|
Stockpiles |
2,347,078 |
3,250,000 |
2,500,000 |
5.8 |
|
Total |
€58,158,928 |
€62,613,850.00 |
€18,929,685 |
100 |
While major progress has been made in improving the international response to crises, much attention is now focused on disaster prevention and preparedness as a complement to relief. Ireland is in the forefront of these efforts. It is estimated that every €7 spent on responding to natural disasters could be offset by €1 spent on preparedness and early warning. Increasingly, Ireland's strategy is to ensure that all of our aid — both long term development funding as well as humanitarian assistance — is targeted towards the poorest and most vulnerable populations in order to strengthen their resilience and build their capacity to respond to the inevitable pressures which result from climatic and other shocks.
Since the publication of the Humanitarian Relief Policy in 2009, a number of important innovations have been introduced to Irish Aid funding mechanisms in order to increase our investment in the prevention of disasters. For example, Irish Aid has pre-positioned funding with a number of humanitarian NGOs such as Concern, Goal and Trócaire (through the Humanitarian Programme Plan and the Emergency Response Fund) which encourages our NGO partners to anticipate predictable emergencies in their areas of operation, and both invest in resilience support activities as well as gearing up for early response. Through the Irish Aid Rapid Response Initiative, Ireland can immediately deploy highly-skilled personnel and emergency supplies to a disaster zone within hours of a crisis in order to prevent a major loss of life. Through these mechanisms, Irish Aid is in a position to support partners to prevent a major loss of life in those first critically important days of a disaster situation.
Irish Aid has also established a dedicated budget line called the Emergency Preparedness, Post-Emergency and Recovery Assistance (EPPR) Budget within the overall humanitarian budget (an average of €7 million per year). This supports pilots and innovative work being undertaken by Irish Aid partners in reducing risk and building local capacity to respond to disasters. We also continue to encourage our NGO partners to include investment in disaster risk reduction as part of their long term development work.
Internationally the 2005 Hyogo Framework for Action, to which Ireland is a signatory, provides the global blueprint for disaster risk reduction. In support of the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action, Ireland provides funding to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the World Bank's Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery to help developing countries reduce their vulnerability to natural hazards and adapt to climate change. In addition, Ireland is an active member of the EU Disaster Risk Reduction steering group established at expert level to oversee the implementation of the EU strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction.
Finally, and most importantly, through our ongoing long term development programmes, Ireland systematically invests in the prevention of disasters and strengthening the resilience of poor people and communities to manage risks and mitigate disasters. Social Protection and the provision of cash transfers are increasingly used as a development tool to enhance the capacity of poor people to cope with poverty, and equip them to better manage risks and shocks. These types of interventions are a core element of Irish Aid development programmes particularly in countries such as Malawi, Vietnam, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique and Ethiopia. These programmes, I believe, place Irish Aid at the leading edge in relation to working towards reducing and mitigating the effects of disasters.
177 Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the amounts of funding Irish Aid has made available, as part of its finding for NGO programmes, for the strengthening of those organisations’ internal capacity; if he will provide, in tabular form, an overview of the areas of capacity development those NGOs have focused on in using those funds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29402/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Government's aid programme, which is managed by Irish Aid in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, is sharply focused on the fight against global poverty and hunger. It is recognised internationally for its effectiveness, and for its concentration on some of the poorest countries and communities in sub-Saharan Africa.
Cooperation with development Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) represents a very important element of the Government's aid programme, administered by Irish Aid. The programme channels a higher proportion of overall assistance through the non-governmental sector than most other international donors, reflecting the strong support of the Irish people for the work of NGOs and missionaries. Funding for NGOs is provided through a range of funding schemes covering long term development, emergency and recovery assistance and development education.
Nineteen NGOs were recently approved for four-year programme grants for their long term development work. For 2012, this represents a cumulative budget of €65 million. This NGO funding is strongly focused on the achievement of development results through high quality programmes that make a real and sustainable impact on the reduction of poverty and hunger. In order to achieve quality programmes, Irish Aid allows each NGO to spend up to 6% of the grant on strengthening organisational capacity, monitoring the success of interventions and documenting good practice.
In general, NGOs use this capacity development support to strengthen their governance, management, quality and technical oversight capacity as well as improving their financial management and systems for tracking results. Irish Aid monitors progress in the strengthening of internal organisational capacity closely during the programme cycle through regular field monitoring visits to programme partners, annual narrative and financial reporting against agreed objectives and budgets, end of programme evaluations and ongoing reviews of compliance.
The Government is firmly committed to targeting our aid on the fight against extreme poverty and hunger among the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our NGO partners will continue to play a crucial role as we work to achieve the maximum benefit from Ireland's development co-operation programme and its contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
