Results 661-680 of 881 for speaker:Peter Power

Written Answers — Overseas Development Aid: Overseas Development Aid (24 Sep 2008)

Peter Power: In the Programme for Government, the Government makes a commitment to expanding Ireland's Overseas Aid Programme. It has set a target of spending 0.7% of GNP on Official Development Assistance, ODA, by 2012. In 2008, the Government has allocated approximately €900 million to ODA. The majority of this funding — €769 million — comes under Vote 29, International Co-operation, which is...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (24 Sep 2008)

Peter Power: The total cost of copy writing, designing and printing the Irish Aid Annual Report for 2007 was €39,846. The cost of the Report is met from the public information budget of the Irish Aid programme under Vote 29 of the Department of Foreign Affairs. The Annual Report plays a key role in informing the public about the programmes, activities and partner organisations funded through our...

Written Answers — Overseas Development Aid: Overseas Development Aid (24 Sep 2008)

Peter Power: The Department of Foreign Affairs undertakes a number of important initiatives every year to raise awareness of the global poverty reduction work of Irish Aid, on behalf of the Irish people. Over the last two years these have included: Initiative Outline Cost € Material on the aid programme for 50,000 university students, August 2008 Notepad with information on the programme and...

Written Answers — Overseas Development Aid: Overseas Development Aid (9 Jul 2008)

Peter Power: Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world and has been one of Ireland's Programme Countries since 1994. Irish Aid provided almost €41 million to development programmes and projects in Ethiopia in 2007 and it is estimated that assistance amounting to around €45 million will be provided in 2008. In 2007, assistance to Ethiopia addressed a wide range of basic needs with an...

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (9 Jul 2008)

Peter Power: Notwithstanding the decisions taken by Government yesterday, my Department will meet its target for spending on overseas development aid, ODA, this year, which is 0.54% of gross national product. We also remain committed to our 2012 target of 0.7% of GNP. Unlike other Departments, ODA spending is linked to GNP rather than year on year expenditure. Accordingly, the Government decisions...

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (9 Jul 2008)

Peter Power: I am determined to maximise the impact of recent initiatives, such as the hunger task force and the rapid response initiative. Our target is challenging but realistic. While the precise details of how these savings will be achieved is still to be determined, the Minister, Deputy Martin, and I are confident that the Department will be able to make them without impacting on the delivery of...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (8 Jul 2008)

Peter Power: I propose to take Questions Nos. 455 to 458, inclusive, together. The position with regard to the Value for Money Reviews referred to by the Deputy is as follows: Emergency and Humanitarian Assistance The Value for Money Review of Irish Aid's emergency humanitarian response to a selected disaster focused on the 2004 Asian Tsunami. The Review concluded that Irish Aid's overall response was...

Written Answers — Value for Money Reviews: Value for Money Reviews (1 Jul 2008)

Peter Power: My Department has committed to undertaking five reviews under the current round of Value for Money Review initiative for 2006 to 2008. These reviews and their current status are: Support for Irish Emigrant Groups Abroad — published August, 2007 Support for the Tsunami Affected Countries — published November, 2007 Evaluation of Development Programme in Mozambique — published February,...

Written Answers — Foreign Conflicts: Foreign Conflicts (25 Jun 2008)

Peter Power: The humanitarian situation across Somalia remains grave, particularly in and around Mogadishu and I remain deeply concerned for the safety and well-being of Somalis and the aid community seeking to assist them. In what was already a precarious environment for humanitarian agencies, security and access have deteriorated even further in 2008. Security issues for those seeking to deliver relief...

Written Answers — Overseas Development Aid: Overseas Development Aid (18 Jun 2008)

Peter Power: The White Paper on Irish Aid lays out the principles which guide the approaches and modalities used in providing aid to developing countries. These are: Partnership; Public Ownership and Transparency; Effectiveness and Quality Assurance; Coherence; and Long-term Sustainability. The White Paper states that Ireland will maintain a mix of complementary modalities in each of our programme...

Written Answers — Ethiopian Food Crisis: Ethiopian Food Crisis (18 Jun 2008)

Peter Power: Poverty is widespread and deeply rooted in Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in the world. More than 30 million people live below the poverty line and over 8 million people are at risk of hunger each year. Recent years have seen large increases in public spending on education, health and water in Ethiopia, and significant progress has been made in human development indicators. For...

Written Answers — Overseas Development Aid: Overseas Development Aid (18 Jun 2008)

Peter Power: At the halfway point to the 2015 target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, progress in sub-Saharan Africa on the targets relating to poverty and nourishment remains slow. MDG One commits the international community to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, halving between 1990 and 2015 the percentage of people earning less than $1 a day and suffering from hunger. While the...

Written Answers — Overseas Development Aid: Overseas Development Aid (18 Jun 2008)

Peter Power: I propose to take Questions Nos. 89, 92 and 112 together. I am deeply concerned that the sharp increase in the price of staple food commodities such as corn, wheat and rice is undermining the food security of many millions of individuals and communities throughout the developing world. We already had a situation where over 800 million people were already food insecure and the current price...

Written Answers — Overseas Development Aid: Overseas Development Aid (18 Jun 2008)

Peter Power: The White Paper on Irish Aid included a commitment to establish a new Inter-Departmental Committee on Development to strengthen coherence in the Government's approach to development and to make best use of the expertise and skills available across the public service. I am pleased to say that, in line with that commitment, an Inter-Departmental Committee on Development has been established....

Written Answers — Overseas Development Aid: Overseas Development Aid (18 Jun 2008)

Peter Power: Ireland has a special relationship with seven countries in Africa. These are Ethiopia, Uganda, Malawi, Lesotho, Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania and they are referred to as Programme Countries. Only two of these countries have a coastline, namely Mozambique and Tanzania. In our present partnership programmes with Mozambique and Tanzania the focus is more on the agricultural sector with no...

Written Answers — Overseas Development Aid: Overseas Development Aid (18 Jun 2008)

Peter Power: Weak governance is a major challenge in many developing countries. Irish Aid is helping to strengthen governance in many of these countries by supporting democratic systems of government and effective, accountable institutions for the delivery of key services. Irish Aid is also helping to build robust public financial management systems, effective oversight bodies and a strong civil...

Written Answers — Human Rights Issues: Human Rights Issues (18 Jun 2008)

Peter Power: More than 200 million children in the world today are involved in child labour, doing work that is damaging to their mental, physical and emotional development. While child labour is a very serious problem worldwide, it is particularly stark in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), 26% of children, representing close to 50 million child...

Written Answers — Human Rights Issues: Human Rights Issues (18 Jun 2008)

Peter Power: I utterly condemn the recent attempts by the Zimbabwean Government to suspend the operations of non-governmental organisations in the country. There are an estimated four million people at risk from the effects of weakened social services and the erosion of livelihoods in Zimbabwe. Non-governmental organisations provide a life line to these poor and vulnerable sections of the population and...

Written Answers — Overseas Development Aid: Overseas Development Aid (18 Jun 2008)

Peter Power: Assistance to development organisations operating in Nepal has totalled €3,686,140 since 2004, as follows: 2004: €448,468 2005: €596,620 2006: €671,940 2007: €1,250,058 2008: €719,054. The funding has been provided under a number of different schemes, including funding for missionary organisations, volunteer programmes, and funding for long term development under the Civil...

Written Answers — Overseas Development Aid: Overseas Development Aid (18 Jun 2008)

Peter Power: From time to time, Irish Aid has provided the Defence Forces with small but effective amounts of funding to assist with small scale development activities, while on peacekeeping missions. For example, funding totalling €242,000 was provided for micro-projects carried out by Irish troops serving with United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) between November 2003 and May 2007. This funding...