Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I welcome this report. I have a question for the Minister of State concerning the figure of 860 million people. This was used at a conference in Rome in June 2008. Can we establish how accurate this figure is? It should be authenticated because it will be used again and again. How are these measurements drawn up?

I encourage the Minister of State to follow some of the recommendations, in particular that 20% of our overseas development aid should go towards alleviating hunger. I stated earlier to some of my colleagues that education is important but there is little point in educating somebody who will die from hunger. In the mid 1980s, 12.3% of overseas aid went to agriculture but in 2006 this figure was down to 3.1%, and the level of direct food aid given is back to where it was in the early 1960s. It is very important that we push the concept of developing local agriculture. We must re-emphasise this and must re-focus. I ask the Minister of State if he agrees with me on this point.

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