Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for his good wishes and extend my own good wishes to him and his betrothed on their impending nuptials and wish them the best of luck in their future.

I am responding on behalf of the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Joe Costello. I thank the Senator for raising the issue. We must acknowledge the work and support of the all-party Oireachtas group on sexual and reproductive health and development in supporting the aid programme in difficult financial circumstances domestically and particularly for its work in raising the profile of the issues around gender equality and sexual and reproductive health rights. Population planning remains a priority for Ireland. This is reflected in the funding allocated to population assistance. According to the UNFPA's latest report on tracking the financial resource targets agreed at the International Conference on Population and Development, ICPD, Ireland ranked fourth in terms of the percentage of our official development assistance allocated to the specified population assistance activities. This funding is vitally important to ensure that our partners, such as UNFPA, various NGOs and other partners can deliver programmes which empower women and provide access to sexual and reproductive health rights not only in key partner countries but in more complex settings, such as those referenced by the Senator, affected by natural disaster or conflict and where continued access to reproductive health is particularly critical for women and girls.

We have strongly supported the ICPD global review process which provides the continued evidence to incorporate broader population planning issues into the new sustainable and universal post-2015 development framework. The review report confirms the importance of the linkages between human rights, non-discrimination, equality, sexual and reproductive health and population dynamics for sustainable development.

Under the General Assembly the UN will convene a special session on 22 September to follow up on the programme of action from the ICPD. Ireland will use this opportunity to reiterate our commitment to the full implementation of the programme of action and we will work closely with the EU and UN to ensure its recommendations are fully reflected in the post-2015 development framework which must ensure no one is left behind. This means addressing the fragmented implementation of the programme of action. It also means being unafraid to address all elements of the ICPD vision, including sexual and reproductive health, and in doing so that we reach the most marginalised. It is only through this approach that we can address the reason we are all here and truly achieve gender equality and sustainable and inclusive development.