Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 67: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to recent comments from a person (details supplied) that the Government's decision to renege on its overseas development funding commitments has affected global efforts to fight the AIDS epidemic; the efforts the Government has been making or proposes to make to address the shortfall in the sums needed to combat the epidemic; if this part of the millennium development goals is to be achieved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7693/05]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 265: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the extent to which he and his EU and UN colleagues propose to address the issue of AIDS in Africa; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8005/05]

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 67 and 265 together.

The Government's spending on ODA has risen from €158 million in 1997 to €545 million this year. This means that Ireland is now one of the world's leading aid donors, ranked 8th by the OECD, in terms of per capita spending on development assistance.

The Government's programme of development assistance is internationally recognised as being of the highest quality. The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, during his visit to Dublin last year, described our aid programme as a model in development terms, while recently, Mr. James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, complimented the aid programme's approach to development. Mr. Wolfensohn said: "Your country has shown tremendous capacity and a tremendous heart and I think the Irish people are to be congratulated on your approach to development." We are regularly evaluated by our peers in the OECD and the most recent appraisal in 2003 concluded that our development programme is of the highest quality, is sharply poverty focused and is directed at addressing the millennium development goals, MDGs.

HIV-AIDS is a key priority area for Development Co-operation Ireland. A dedicated budget line was established by the Taoiseach following the United Nations special session on HIV-AIDS in 2001. The amount allocated to HIV-AIDS has increased on an annual basis since then and this year almost €50 million will be spent on a wide range of activities related to the prevention, treatment and mitigation of HIV-AIDS. These funds are being channelled through our development partners at a number of different levels.

At a global level, Development Co-operation Ireland is supporting a number of multilateral organisations and initiatives, including UNAIDS, the global fund for HIV-AIDS, TB and malaria, the international AIDS vaccine initiative and the international partnership on microbicides. The Government is also working with the Clinton Foundation to assist in the preparation of integrated HIV and AIDS treatment, care and prevention programmes.

Development Co-operation Ireland is also supporting a regional HIV-AIDS programme for southern and eastern Africa. Our development programme is working to strengthen government capacity to respond to HIV-AIDS in all our programme countries and in South Africa. The Irish Government is also supporting non-governmental organisations, NGOs, and faith based organisations in their work to deliver home based care, support orphans and provide much needed health care in communities.

While the programmes supported through Development Co-operation Ireland are assisting in alleviating the global impact of HIV-AIDS, the pandemic continues to be an enormous challenge to reducing poverty and attaining the millennium development goals. This is particularly the case in sub-Saharan Africa where prevalence rates of over 20% are not uncommon. This high rate of infection makes it even more difficult for poorer countries to reach the millennium development targets. There are, however, encouraging signs that sub-Saharan Africa is making some progress in the fight against AIDS and the Irish Government will continue to support it in its efforts. The annual budgetary increases in ODA, announced by the Minister for Finance in December, will allow Ireland to further contribute to the containment of this global scourge.

As an indication of my commitment to improving the international response to HIV-AIDS, I am attending a ministerial meeting later this week in London, which is being organised jointly by UNAIDS and the British Government, to agree on levels of financing to arrest the global spread of HIV-AIDS in future years. A particular focus of this meeting, and indeed of my own input, will be to ensure that additional financial resources made available from countries like Ireland will be used in an effective and co-ordinated manner.