Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 88, 91, 102 and 113 together.

In 2008 Ireland's spending on overseas development aid will reach €914 million. This level of expenditure, the highest in the history of the programme, represents 0.54 % of GNP. It will ensure that Ireland remains one of the most generous donors in the world on a per capita basis. We are well on track to meeting the UN target of spending 0.7% on overseas development aid by 2012, three years ahead of the EU commitment.

Most of this funding — €814 million — comes under Vote 29, international co-operation, which is managed by my Department. A further estimated €100 million will be spent by other Departments and through Ireland's allocation to the EU development co-operation budget.

The latest year for which we have detailed expenditure on an individual country level is 2006. The final figures for expenditure in 2007 are awaiting returns from our partner organisations. They will be published in our 2007 annual report.

The 12 countries which received the largest volumes of overseas development aid in 2006 were as follows: Uganda, €44.8 million; Mozambique, €41.8 million; Ethiopia, €39.4 million; Tanzania, €30.5 million; Zambia, €24.2 million; Sudan, €15 million; South Africa, €14.7 million; Kenya, €11.8 million; Lesotho, €10.8 million; Democratic Republic of Congo, €9.9 million; Sierra Leone, €8.8 million; and Zimbabwe, €8.3 million.

The funding administered by Irish Aid is delivered through a wide range of partners including governments, non-governmental organisations, missionaries, UN funds and programmes, international organisations and humanitarian agencies. Funding is delivered via local, regional and national government systems aimed at, inter alia, building health, education and local government systems. Irish Aid uses a number of modalities and funding mechanisms to manage overseas development aid ranging from sector wide supports, mainly in health and education, to projects and, in some countries, to general budget support.

Overall, €260 million was provided to the above 12 countries in 2006. A summarised breakdown of this would show some €81 million being channelled through NGOs and approximately €118 million through partner country government systems and structures. The remainder was either implemented directly by Irish Aid, or delivered through multilateral organisations.

As regards NGOs, a significant proportion of Irish Aid funding is delivered through our multi-annual partnership scheme, MAPS, with the main Irish NGOs. In 2007, almost €63 million was provided to five Irish NGOs under MAPS, and we plan to increase this to €70 million for 2008. Irish Aid has also consistently supported the work of Irish missionaries. Some €16 million was provided to the Irish Missionary Resource Service in 2007 which will increase to €20 million this year.

As far as future spending is concerned, the overseas development aid allocation will be decided through the Estimates process. Figures for expenditure on overseas development aid in the period 2009-12 cannot be stated at this point as they are linked to estimated GNP growth at the time of the Estimates process. However, I can assure Deputies that the Government is committed to meeting the target of 0.7% of GNP by 2012 in a planned and phased manner and that Ireland's overseas development aid allocation will grow strongly year on year as we move towards that target.

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