Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We spend approximately €780,000 per annum contributing to the international fund and we expect that to double. Those are the types of figures involved. From our perspective and the reason the US State Department is so complimentary of it is that we were one of the first countries to contribute to this. We are a small player in the overall pool but it is not the amount of money but the fact that we contribute bilaterally to these particular funds that is significant. Thanks to the approval of this committee and Dáil Éireann, I was in the position to make bilateral contributions when I was in Bonn at the climate change negotiations. The figures involved are quite small - perhaps €100,000 or €150,000. However, it is significant, first, in that it is an EU member state that is doing it and, second, we are a member state with a huge amount of credibility in terms of development across the globe, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.