Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State and it is good that the Minister with responsibility for overseas development aid is taking it. That is an endorsement of the work we are trying to do in the House.

The Government has been proactive on international aid for many years and the people, going back generations, have willingly assisted people in the Third World and in other distressed. Many missionaries and lay people have travelled all over the world to help. This can never be quantified but it is heartening that, in spite of our economic difficulties, the State is still allocating 0.5% of GNP for overseas project. I acknowledge the goal is 0.7% of GNP but, hopefully, if buoyancy returns to the economy, we may achieve that by 2015.

My concern for a long time is that Ireland has signed up to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Under this, we must embrace the issue of equality for people with disabilities not only at home but overseas as well. As a country that is doing well overall, in spite of our difficulties, we have a responsibility to ensure the ethos of the convention is implemented domestically and in Third World countries. People with disabilities are more likely to enter poverty quickly and those who are poor are more likely to end with a disability through malnutrition and various other difficulties. I call on the Minister of State to examine in the upcoming White Paper on overseas aid the possibility of ring-fencing a greater percentage of our funding to ensure people with disabilities in the Third World benefit from the generosity of the Government and the Irish people and to ensure NGOs working aboard using State aid build into their programmes projects for people with disabilities that promote equality and ensure the human rights of those with disabilities are protected.

Ireland has a good human rights record. Dr. Maurice Manning attended the House last week for an excellent debate in this regard. I do not seek an increase in the overall funding for overseas development aid because the country cannot afford it but I am seeking that the percentage of the current budget spent on projects for people with disabilities be increased. The public consultation process relating to the White Paper will take place early next year. I hope groups will make submissions and embrace the process and, ultimately, there will be a stronger, tighter and more concise structure to ensure what I am looking for is incorporated in the White Paper. I look forward to the Minister of State's reply.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I thank the Senator for raising the issue. I invite him and the disability rights organisations to make submissions on the White Paper review. The consultation process will take place between January and March next year and the review will conclude by next July. I welcome the concept of a rights-based approach.

I also welcome this opportunity to address the important issue of how our overseas development programme takes account of the needs of people with disabilities. Disabled people are more vulnerable to poverty and its effects than much of the rest of the population. In humanitarian emergencies, people with disabilities face additional risks as a result of dislocation and displacement and specific difficulties accessing services and support. The World Health Organization recognises that an effective response to disability has to be a complex one. Action is required across a diverse range of activities so that disability can be prevented and so that disabled people are not excluded or exploited. This is the basis of Irish Aid's approach to disability.

Disability is one of a number of issues which are mainstreamed across all aspects of our long-term development programme. This means that the issues around disability are systematically considered in the design of development programmes and addressed in a multidimensional way. Examples of this approach include specific references to disability in Irish Aid's education and health policies and strategies. There is an emphasis on access by the disabled and other marginalised groups within our support to basic education in developing countries. We work with governments in Zambia, Ethiopia and Uganda to ensure the inclusion of disability in a comprehensive social protection framework. In particular, we work for the provision of allowances to disabled people as a means of providing them with economic security, preventing them from falling into destitution and empowering them to participate and reach their potential in society.

We also work to ensure that services are provided to assist disabled people to deal with their particular disabilities and associated limitations. In this context, Irish Aid supports Irish development NGOs, such as Concern, GOAL, Trócaire, Christian Aid and Self Help Africa, all of which undertake health and human rights work that benefits disabled people. The aid programme also has an important partnership with the International Labour Organisation which focuses on assisting people with disability and advocating on legislation for disability in Africa. The partnership has a particular emphasis on disabled women and it also focuses on assisting people with disability to gain employment and set up their own businesses. This programme is regarded internationally as a leader in addressing disability issues in development.

In responding to humanitarian emergencies, Irish Aid takes particular care to address the specific needs of people with disabilities. This commitment is one of the guiding principles of our humanitarian relief policy. Acting on it during an emergency or humanitarian response requires the full involvement of people with disabilities in needs assessments and planning. We ensure this approach is adopted by Irish Aid itself and by our partner organisations. All our humanitarian interventions are guided by the standards set out in the Sphere handbook, the international best-practice manual, based on the obligations under international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law. This makes specific references throughout to the need for people with disabilities to be fully taken into account in all emergency programming. Specific instances of the inclusion of disability in Irish Aid humanitarian programming include the stipulation last year following the Haiti earthquake that sanitation facilities, including latrines, should be designed to facilitate access by the disabled.

I assure the House and the Senator of the Government's full agreement that Ireland's official aid programme must address the needs of people with disabilities and actively promote the improvement of their quality of life. As a mainstreamed issue, disability benefits from resources directed across a range of long-term development programmes and emergency humanitarian action. This is in addition to specific funding provided to groups working directly on disability, which last year amounted to over €2 million.

We will continue to engage with our development and humanitarian partners to ensure that the needs of people with disabilities receive the high priority they deserve in the aid programme. I encourage the Senator to engage in the review of the White Paper.

Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for that comprehensive reply. My purpose for raising this matter on the Adjournment was to ensure that it is given the necessary political weight. Next year will be an important one in terms of deciding out future in overseas development aid with the publication of the White Paper. I am putting down a marker that this country and this Government has an obligation to ensure that we invoke the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in all the work we do, and that includes development aid. I echo the Minister's sentiments and call on various disability groups that would be exercised in this regard to engage in the public consultation process as the end result will be important in terms of the future development of this programme.

Does the Minister have a ballpark percentage figure of the budget channelled specifically to projects involving people with disabilities? It is probably difficult to pin it down but do her officials have any ideas on that? Is it one third or 20%? Are any concrete figures available?

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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It is difficult to put a concrete figure on it. I have a figure that more than €6.5 million was provided since 2008 specifically to non-governmental organisations, NGOs, working with people with disabilities. They would be organisations such as Sightsavers, CBM Ireland and Children in Crossfire but there is also a Dóchas disability and development group representatives of which I met with last June. Dóchas is the umbrella body for the various NGOs. That is a useful group in terms of advocating for the rights of people with disabilities in the programme.

It is difficult to put a figure on the exact percentage because so much of it is part of what is being done by particular organisations, and programmes in particular, but if we can get more accurate figures than that in terms of percentages I will forward them to the Senator. The rights approach is important in terms of both our national and international obligations and I will ensure that approach is maintained in terms of the review of the White Paper.

Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for attending.