Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for inviting me here today to discuss the internal agreement relating to the 11th European Development Fund. As the Chairman mentioned, the EDF is the main instrument for delivering EU development assistance to the African, Caribbean and Pacific, ACP, group of states. The European Development Fund, unlike the EU's other external relations funding instruments, is not funded directly from the EU budget. Its development co-operation programmes are funded through direct assessed contributions by EU member states.

Each European Development Fund is concluded for a multi-annual period and the 11th EDF will cover the period from 2014 to 2020. There are four main legislative components governing each European Development Fund multi-annual period. The first of these legislative instruments is the internal agreement, the ratification of which is being considered today. The internal agreement pertaining to the 11th EDF was negotiated under the Irish EU Presidency, has been agreed and signed by all member states and is in the process of being ratified by them. The Dáil motion seeking approval to ratify the internal agreement, which has been referred to this committee to report back on, is part of the process of ratifying the agreement in Ireland.

The internal agreement sets out the overall funding that will be provided within the multi-annual period of the European Development Fund and individual member states' contribution share, or "key", to the fund. Total funding for the 11th EDF will amount to €30.5 billion and Ireland's contribution, based on a contribution key of 0.94%, will be €286.775 million.

The second and third part of the legislative package consists of the implementation regulation, which sets out how the European Development Fund will be administered. Also, the Financial Regulationwhich the committee examined in the course of a wide-ranging discussion on the European Development Fund with officials from my Department in February.Both regulations will be adopted once the internal agreement has been formally ratified by all EU member states. The fourth and final part of the legislative package is theOverseas Association Decision agreed under the Lithuanian Presidency in December 2013.
Irish Aid very actively engages with the European Development Fund, primarily through our membership of the EDF Management Committee in Brussels. The geographic focus and aims of the European Development Fund are closely aligned with those of Irish Aid.
The European Development Fund is the primary EU funding instrument for sub-Saharan Africa and has a strong focus on poverty eradication and on fragile and conflict affected states. Over 91% of funds allocated under the 11th EDF will be allocated for Africa. This includes significant allocations for our key partner countries which are as follows: Mozambique €734 million, Ethiopia €712 million, Tanzania €626 million, Uganda €578 million, Malawi €560 million, Zambia €484 million, Sierra Leone €376 million and Liberia €279 million.
Ireland's engagement with and oversight of the European Development Fund is managed through our membership of the EDF committee. In the context of our discussions at the committee, we obviously take a particular interest in the eight Irish Aid partner countries. In advance of meetings, we consult with our missions in partner countries to ensure that, to the greatest extent possible, there is complementarity between the European Development Fund and the approach of Irish Aid's bilateral programmes in our partner countries.
Individual European Development Fund programmes significantly complement Irish Aid's work in our programme countries. In Malawi the focus on water and sanitation in the 2013 EDF annual action programme has been crucial in improving nutrition and complements the scaling up nutrition work, also known as SUN, with which Ireland has been centrally involved.
In Tanzania, theIrish Aid programme has a strong focus on agriculture. The European Development Fund supported the initiative called the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania, SAGCOT. It aims to promote the participation of smallholder farmers in the development of agriculture value chains. The European Development Fund has also allocated over €58 million to Ethiopia’s productive safety nets programme of which Irish Aid has been a long-standing supporter. Also by acting together, through the European Development Fund, member states, including Ireland, benefit from the EU's wide geographical representation in third countries, which is unmatched by any individual member state.
We can, through our support for European Development Fund programmes, complement the work Irish Aid is already doing, especially in the social sectors. We can also contribute to programmes where Ireland does not have a comparative advantage, such as infrastructure and private sector development.
Irish Aid seeks to ensure the relevance of the European Development Fund's policy and programming approaches to Ireland's bilateral development priorities. It also engages in issues of oversight and governance of the fund through our participation in the EDF Committee and our monitoring of the governance and accountability arrangements to which the fund is subject.
The European Development Fund has been subject to a number of major external assessments of its performance, including by the European Commission in 2011, the UK Multilateral Aid Review in 2011, and the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD DAC, peer review in 2012. These reviews highlighted the EDF's contribution in assisting African Caribbean and Pacific countries progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. They also highlighted its value for money, flexibility and adaptability to changes in the political and economic climate. The European Development Fund is also subject to annual review by the European Court of Auditors and consistently achieves an annual statement of assurance from the court.
The European Parliament is responsible for discharging the European Development Fund's accounts, further to the Court of Auditors' annual review. It discharged the accounts for year ending 2011 in 2013 and the procedure to review the accounts for year ending 2012 is under way.
I would like to briefly mention the Winning Business in Africa initiative which I have been actively promoting. The purpose of this innovative collaboration between the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation is to establish a facility to increase the ability of Irish companies to successfully tender for European Development Fund-supported contracts in Africa. I am excited by the potential of this soon to commence project. Initially it will run on a one year pilot basis after which a review will be carried out to determine future project direction and funding.
I hope I have provided a useful, if brief, overview of the internal agreement governing the 11th EDF. I hope I have explained how the EDF's aims and programmes complement Ireland's bilateral aid programme and how we are engaging with the EDF to ensure that it is underpinned by robust and transparent governance arrangements. The Winning Business in Africa pilot project will, I hope, provide a template whereby we can identify further opportunities for Irish companies to successfully tender for EU contracts.
I thank the committee for giving me this opportunity to speak on this matter. I will be happy to take any questions Members may have.