Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 8: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs his plans to implement the recommendations of the task force report on hunger; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34077/08]

John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Question 22: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the measures he plans to implement the reorientation of Ireland's aid programme to focus on food insecurity, as recommended in the Hunger Task Force report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34167/08]

Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 50: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs his plans to appoint a special envoy for hunger, as recommended in the Hunger Task Force report; the duties, functions and powers which would be assigned to such an envoy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34169/08]

Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Question 60: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the proportion of the aid budget committed to alleviating hunger; his plans to increase this commitment to 20% of the aid budget, as recommended in the Hunger Task Force report; the areas of the aid budget which will be reduced to achieve this target; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34168/08]

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 8, 22, 50 and 60 together.

The report of the Hunger Task Force, which was commissioned by the Government last year, was submitted on 25 September at the recent UN Millennium Summit in New York. The Hunger Task Force was established before the current global food price crisis hit the headlines and was informed by our knowledge gained on the ground, through our overseas aid programme, Irish Aid.

I pay tribute to our former colleague Joe Walsh who did a magnificent job in chairing this group of national and international experts. I thank each member of the task force for their commitment and dedication in producing this report. The report has been circulated to all members of the Oireachtas and copies placed in the Library. The report is concise, focused and accessible, and provides a clear picture of what must be the greatest scandal of the world today, the fact that notwithstanding all the global technical development and innovation, in 2008 there are more than 862 million people who do not have enough to eat. That number is constantly rising, driven by the recent escalation in the global price of food.

The report of the task force is both timely and welcome and I have no difficulty in endorsing its overall findings that we focus our attention and efforts on three areas: to follow through on commitments made both nationally and internationally by all Governments, both donors and Governments of developing countries and to increase the priority given to hunger in the aid programme; to target smallholder agricultural productivity; and to promote effective actions to counter maternal and infant under-nutrition. To follow through on this, I am establishing a new section which, inter alia, will have a special dedicated focus on food security tasked with advancing our work on addressing hunger.

Hunger is a complex issue and the task force has made detailed recommendations. Our first task will be to carry out a careful analysis of the recommendations and the extent to which current aid programming is responding to the many facets of hunger. Once that exercise has been completed we will be in a position to plan how we can strengthen our efforts to address the root causes of hunger, with a view to making a real and lasting contribution to the abolition of hunger from our world.

Two recommendations of the task force have been raised. The first is that a target of 20% be set for aid spending on hunger by 2012. In response to this, I assure Deputies that different aspects of food security are funded across a range of programmes within Irish Aid. We must assess in full our current degree of engagement with hunger across the entire range of our programmes. When the results of our assessment are available, we will be in a better position to determine how best to move forward with regard to volume and quality.

The second is that a special envoy be appointed to ensure that the recommendations are implemented. This recommendation will be examined closely and I agree that donors and governments should be held to account on their commitments. However, we must reflect and assess whether the appointment of an envoy would be the most effective way to do this. We must be sure that such a step will bring added value in these challenging times.

Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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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.

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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I agree with the Deputy. Regarding the 862 million, that figure came from international multilateral agencies such as the United Nations, the World Food Programme and from a collation of experts in the area. It is their estimate that 862 million people will go hungry to bed tonight.

With reference to the figure of 20%, it should be noted that a considerable proportion of Irish aid spending goes across a range of programmes, including bilateral aid, multilateral aid and through the United Nations and international agencies. It is difficult to calculate the precise proportion of the amount of aid spent on the alleviation of food hunger. I fully agree with Deputy Timmons that this amount is much less than it was in the 1980s, not just in this country but across all donor countries. If this report serves to do one thing it is to re-focus our attention and that of all donor countries to this fact. Food and food hunger should be at the centre of our international aid and development programmes.

Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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I ask the Minister of State if Ireland Aid is interested in establishing a special study on the issue of land ownership, taking specific account of recipient countries of Irish aid in Africa. This is in the context of investment of outside countries such as Saudi Arabia, China and others, and also the recycling of what might be regarded by many people as dubious oil revenues into the purchase of land. Such purchase comes at the cost of the capacity of those who are occupying the land in order produce their own food, bring it to market and so on. This is a question of respect for tribal and ethnic common ownership of land. The other side of that is to address the issue of those in the slums who are without title to their shanty existence.

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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The point is very well made. Part of the problem regarding the declining capacity of many developing countries to produce their own food is the increasing fragmentation of small holdings. That is a major problem. Allied to that are problems with establishing proof of legal tenure, including that of women who comprise, surprisingly, 80% of all farmers in Africa. This figure is borne out in the report. Their rights to own land and to develop that land for productive agricultural purposes are diminishing because of fragmentation. That is a very real issue which we must address. It is an extremely complex issue and varies from country to country. In Mozambique, for example, all the land is owned by the state. In other countries nobody knows who owns the land and the system goes back perhaps to early stages of feudal ownership such as we had in Ireland.

The Deputy's point is well made. The key, however, as identified and recommended in the report, is that international foreign aid and development should be focused upon increasing the productive capacity in agriculture. We have lost focus on that, not only in Ireland but right across the world. The report takes a leadership role in the international community.

I conclude with one point. The report on food hunger, which was welcomed across the House, shows Ireland taking an outstanding leadership role in the world. This report was launched on the floor of the United Nations, in the presence of the UN Secretary General and to wide acclaim in the international community. Ireland is at the cutting edge, taking a leadership role on this issue and Irish people should be proud of that.

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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On a point of order, this morning the House ordered the Whips to set aside time for the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy John Gormley, to come into the House and make a personal statement. The Whips duly met and agreed that a suitable time would be now, at this moment in proceedings. The Minister conveyed to the Government and Opposition Whips that he would do so. I understand now that he is not coming to the House. This is the kind of arrogance and disrespect for the House that I find intolerable. I ask the good office of the Leas-Cheann Comhairle to ensure that the House is not treated in this cavalier fashion by the Minister when an agreement was made with the House on all sides, including the Ceann Comhairle, that the Minister would be here to make a personal statement. He has now said that he will not come because the matter was to be on the Adjournment. The matter on the Adjournment is entirely separate. The Minister agreed to make a personal——

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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That is a long point of order. A personal explanation is a matter exclusively for the Deputy concerned. I have been informed that the Minister made no request to the Ceann Comhairle's office for time in which to make a personal statement.

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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To put the record straight, the Minister conveyed to the Office of the Chief Whip that he was prepared, and wanted to make a personal statement and that he wished to do so at this time.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I can only say that I have been informed that no request was made to the Ceann Comhairle's office for the making of such a personal statement. We will therefore proceed to the normal business of the House at this juncture, namely, the Adjournment Debate. I understand that one of the debates concerns the matter that the Deputies raised. Does Deputy Costello have a point of order?

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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It is a point of order. I was in the House at the time and it was by agreement with the Ceann Comhairle that the Whips would meet to arrange a time when a statement would be made. It was not as if it was a request from the person who was——

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I will explain to the House——

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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It was a decision of the House that there would be a meeting of the Whips and that at a suitable time——

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I shall explain to the House that it is not a matter for the Ceann Comhairle, or for the House, when a personal statement is involved but rather a matter exclusively for the Deputy concerned. It is my understanding that no request was made to the Ceann Comhairle's office for any Deputy to make a personal statement today.

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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The Deputy concerned conveyed to the Whips' office that he was to make a personal statement at this time——

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I did not.

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Misleading the House and treating it with disrespect is unacceptable.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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There is nothing the Chair can do about that. We will move on.