Results 1,961-1,980 of 7,777 for speaker:Joe Costello

Pre-European Council Meeting: Statements (21 May 2013)

Joe Costello: It used to be transparent when we were on that side. I understand that Ministers had a very useful exchange today on the draft conclusions and that it is the intention of President Van Rompuy to encourage a strategic exchange among leaders on both of tomorrow's important thematic issues. The European Council discussions on energy will be clearly positioned in the context of the European...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Official Engagements (21 May 2013)

Joe Costello: The UN Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) will hold a Regional Conference in Geneva on 1-2 July 2013 on the theme of Enabling choices: Population Priorities for the 21st Century. It will bring together 200-250 representatives of governments, including high-level officials, with representatives of national parliaments, academia and Non-Governmental Organisations. The Conference will review...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Investment in Agriculture Conference (16 May 2013)

Joe Costello: Good nutrition and food security are important pathways out of poverty. If investments in agriculture are designed to enhance nutrition outcomes, we can help stop the devastating and irreversible consequences of under-nutrition on child development and we can increase the economic potential of nations. It is estimated that eliminating under-nutrition in very young children could add up to 11...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: International Summits (16 May 2013)

Joe Costello: Fighting global hunger is a priority for Ireland's International Development Programme. Under-nutrition is an often silent element of hunger which has devastating consequences. Over four in ten children under the age of five in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are undernourished. Under-nutrition not only puts these children at greater risk of infection and death, but it also stops them...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: International Conferences (16 May 2013)

Joe Costello: I represented Ireland at the Somalia Conference in London on 7 May which was attended by representatives of more than 50 countries and international organisations. The conference discussed a wide range of issues relating to ongoing efforts to consolidate lasting peace and stability in Somalia after twenty years of conflict and lawlessness. Significant progress has been made on...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Humanitarian Aid (16 May 2013)

Joe Costello: I propose to take Questions Nos. 37 and 84 together. Significant progress has been made in recent years to improve the scale and effectiveness of the response of the international community to major disasters and humanitarian crises. This has included the provision by Ireland and other donors of predictable emergency response funding. However, disasters on the scale of the earthquake in...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Overseas Development Issues (16 May 2013)

Joe Costello: The recent report compiled by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Union, ‘Making the most of Africa’s Commodities: Industrialization for Growth, Jobs and Economic Transformation’, places a spotlight on Africa’s gradual emergence as a global economic power. The report highlights how the continent should take advantage of this...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Humanitarian Aid (16 May 2013)

Joe Costello: On 15 April 2013, I joined my colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Mr. Simon Coveney, T.D., in signing a three-year Strategic Partnership Agreement with the World Food Programme (WFP) on the occasion of the WFP Executive Director’s visit to Dublin to participate in the Hunger-Nutrition-Climate Justice Conference. The WFP is the world’s largest...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Overseas Development Issues (16 May 2013)

Joe Costello: Tanzania is one of the nine key partner countries for the Government’s development cooperation programme, where we have a commitment to long term strategic assistance. The issue of land rights for pastoralist communities in Tanzania, such as the Maasai, is a complex one, which I take very seriously. I am aware of the specific land conflict referred to by the Deputy. It has remained...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Conflicts (16 May 2013)

Joe Costello: The conflict in Syria has persisted now for more than two years and has created a humanitarian catastrophe of staggering proportions. There are in excess of 6.8 million Syrians requiring immediate assistance inside the country, over 4million of whom have been internally displaced. Widespread and indiscriminate violence has resulted in an estimated 80,000 deaths and has forced whole...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Overseas Development Issues (16 May 2013)

Joe Costello: I share concerns that biofuel production, unless properly regulated, can have a negative impact on food production, and on food prices. The scale of the challenge of fighting global poverty and providing nutritious food for a growing population, in the context of a changing climate, was highlighted at the international Conference on Hunger Nutrition and Climate Justice which we organised in...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Humanitarian Aid (16 May 2013)

Joe Costello: The situation in Mali remains high priority for the international community, including the European Union. It has been discussed at a series of international and EU meetings over recent months. Ireland has played a significant role in these talks in our capacity as EU Presidency, including in discussions which I chaired at the meeting of EU Development Ministers in Dublin in February....

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Humanitarian Aid (16 May 2013)

Joe Costello: The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continues to face one of the most complex and enduring humanitarian crises in the world. After decades of war, instability and poor governance the humanitarian needs facing the country are enormous. Ongoing conflict, human rights violations and gender-based violence in the east of the country continue to displace hundreds of thousands of people...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Human Rights Issues (16 May 2013)

Joe Costello: The EU is continuing to implement vigorously its comprehensive Strategy for the Horn of Africa which was adopted in 2011 and which covers the entire region including the situations in Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Kenya and other countries of the region. It addresses all dimensions on the different crises in the region including conflict, underdevelopment, and issues...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Child Solidiers (16 May 2013)

Joe Costello: I propose to take Questions Nos. 83, 89, 90 and 91 together. The recruitment and use of child soldiers continues to be a serious problem and a matter of grave concern to Ireland and indeed the international community. The involvement of child soldiers has been reported in most recent armed conflicts and in almost every region of the world over the last two decades. Each year, the United...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Humanitarian Aid (16 May 2013)

Joe Costello: As Minister of State with responsibility for Ireland’s Official Development Assistance, I am very conscious of the need to ensure that our development assistance is used to achieve its intended objectives. In our new Policy for International Development: One World, One Future, in line with the Government’s commitments to Public Service Reform, we renew our strong focus on...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Overseas Development Aid Provision (14 May 2013)

Joe Costello: The Government is strongly committed to Ireland's overseas aid programme. Earlier this month the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore TD and I launched Ireland's new Policy on International Development – One World, One Future – where we set out our vision for a sustainable and just world. This policy sets out in very clear terms our goals and...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Ministerial Travel (14 May 2013)

Joe Costello: As the Deputy has pointed out, I recently undertook the first Irish Ministerial visit to Mongolia to attend the Community of Democracies Ministerial meeting which took place in Ulaanbaatar on 29 April. While in Mongolia, I also met with Irish business people active in the Mongolian market and met with representatives of the largest telecoms operator in Mongolia which is purchasing technical...

Seanad: Overseas Development Issues: Statements (9 May 2013)

Joe Costello: As everybody knows, we have a long missionary tradition, particularly in Africa but also in many other areas such as Asia and South America. When we joined the European Economic Community in 1973, one of the conditions was to have a development programme. Every member state of the European Union has a development programme, including Ireland. Targets were set by the United Nations, and...

Seanad: Overseas Development Issues: Statements (9 May 2013)

Joe Costello: We do not have an ambassador in Zimbabwe.