Results 381-400 of 881 for speaker:Peter Power

Overseas Development Aid. (23 Sep 2009)

Peter Power: Ireland has an enviable and impressive record on funding overseas development assistance, ODA. Our progress up the league table of development donors has been realised through a combination of strong economic growth and our desire to move in a planned manner towards the UN target of spending 0.7% of GNP on ODA. This approach has served Ireland's development assistance programme well. The...

Overseas Development Aid. (23 Sep 2009)

Peter Power: I accept the Deputy's point that it is difficult for NGOs to plan ahead. It is extremely difficult to plan our budget for 2010 now because we simply do not know the Exchequer returns for October and November. In view of the unpredictable nature of the financial and economic crisis the world faces, we are finding it difficult to make plans across every Department and in respect of the...

Departmental Strategy Statements. (23 Sep 2009)

Peter Power: I share the Deputy's concern to try to resolve the difficulties which these reductions impose. I acknowledge they pose severe challenges for the NGOs. However, the real challenge is to use the reduced allocations and resources in a much more effective fashion. We are doing so in Irish Aid and are challenging all our partners to do the same. While this is not easy, I take the Deputy's...

Foreign Direct Investment. (23 Sep 2009)

Peter Power: I can read the reply into the record but Question Time will have concluded by the time I finish. I do not know if it is in accordance with Standing Orders to take it as read. I would be happy to take supplementary questions from Deputy Michael D. Higgins.

Foreign Direct Investment. (23 Sep 2009)

Peter Power: The reply will be included in the Official Report.

Foreign Direct Investment. (23 Sep 2009)

Peter Power: I very much welcome this question. I am aware of the reports which underpin the question, namely, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, reports and the Institute for Environment Development report issued earlier this year. They estimate that 2.5 million hectares of land have been bought by other countries....

Foreign Direct Investment. (23 Sep 2009)

Peter Power: -----but not with absentee landlords or multinationals corporations, which would be the modern analogy, there is a potential for a win-win situation. Foreign direct investment, if managed in a transparent way and in partnership with local communities and respecting local traditions and land rights, as the Deputy correctly pointed out, is quite possibly a real tool for development. Ireland...

Foreign Direct Investment. (23 Sep 2009)

Peter Power: I accept the point.

Written Answers — Overseas Development Aid: Overseas Development Aid (17 Sep 2009)

Peter Power: I propose to answer Questions Nos. 43, 46, 52, 53, and 56 together. In 2008, Ireland spent €920 million on Official Development Assistance (ODA). This represented approximately 0.59 % of our Gross National Product (GNP). For 2009 the total budget for ODA is expected to reach €696 million. €571 million will be administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs, through Irish Aid, with...

Written Answers — Overseas Development Aid: Overseas Development Aid (17 Sep 2009)

Peter Power: As recommended in the 2006 Government White Paper on Irish Aid, an independent Management Review of Irish Aid was carried out by consultants Farrell Grant Sparks. The Management Review of Irish Aid examined the governance, management and capacity requirements needed to ensure quality and accountability in an overseas aid programme including in the context of the decentralisation of the Irish...

Written Answers — Overseas Development Aid: Overseas Development Aid (17 Sep 2009)

Peter Power: The Government's aid programme, administered by Irish Aid, is recognised internationally for its lead role in ensuring the effectiveness of development aid. The report of the peer review of the aid programme, which was published in April by the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD, described Irish Aid as "a strong, cutting edge development cooperation programme" focused on delivering...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Sep 2009)

Peter Power: I would like to hear the Deputy's response to what I am saying in a moment. Fine Gael's bank would apparently obtain funds from the ECB, while the SFEF raises funds from wholesale markets not from the ECB. That is a critical difference between Fine Gael's proposal, which I suggest is a copycat model, and the reality of the French model. Fine Gael's bank would be also State-owned, whereas...

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Sep 2009)

Peter Power: What if they refuse?

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Sep 2009)

Peter Power: I thank the Deputy. There is a slight difference.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Sep 2009)

Peter Power: Deputy Rabbitte should be above that.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Sep 2009)

Peter Power: We rescued the country from ruin after the Deputy and his colleagues had been in power.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Sep 2009)

Peter Power: Hear, hear.

National Asset Management Agency Bill 2009: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Sep 2009)

Peter Power: Like the Tánaiste, I am delighted to have an opportunity to contribute to what history will, no doubt, record as being perhaps the most important debate to have occurred in this Chamber for many a long year. There are those who say this Chamber lacks relevance or that it does not debate issues which impact directly on the lives of ordinary citizens, but this important discussion does not...

Written Answers — Overseas Development Aid: Overseas Development Aid (16 Sep 2009)

Peter Power: I propose to answer Questions Nos. 779, 780 and 782 together. Ireland spent €920 million on Official Development Assistance (ODA) in 2008. This represents approximately 0.59 % of our Gross National Product (GNP) and makes Ireland one of the most generous donors in the world on a per capita basis. This is an enormous achievement of which we should all be justifiably proud. For 2009 the total...

Written Answers — Overseas Development Aid: Overseas Development Aid (9 Jul 2009)

Peter Power: The total budget for Official Development Assistance (ODA) for 2009 will be €696 million. Of this, €571 million is administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs, through the Government's official aid programme, Irish Aid. The balance of €125 million comprises contributions to development cooperation by other Government Departments and Ireland's contribution to the EU Development...