Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 82: To ask the Minister for Finance the items to be discussed at the upcoming spring meeting of the IMF and World Bank; if he will be raising the proposals to use IMF gold reserves to fund debt cancellation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11532/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The items to be discussed at the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund Committee, IMFC, and the development committee are essentially decided by the chairs of those committees and their members. It may also reflect the outcome of the upcoming G7 discussions in Washington the week of 11 April 2005 where the issue of funding for development may be discussed. Ireland is not a member of either committee.

However, the provisional agenda for the IMFC indicates the following will be considered: the global economy and financial markets; shaping of the IMF's strategic direction; and support for low-income members' efforts towards poverty reduction and strong sustainable growth, together with progress reports on a number of initiatives. Items on the provisional agenda for the development committee includes the Global Monitoring Report 2005, financing the development agenda and voice and participation of developing and transition countries.

IMF members have not reached any agreement on the merits or otherwise of the various suggestions made by NGOs and others relating to gold reserves. It is probable that no formal proposal for the sale of gold held by the IMF will be put forward and this subject is likely to continue in discussion, especially as a number of states are likely to oppose any such initiative. In relation to debt issues, I refer to recent answers on this subject to parliamentary questions in the past week.