Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 313: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the date by which he expects the Government to be in a position to deliver on its commitment to provide 0.7% of gross national product for overseas development aid; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23893/05]

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The allocation to Vote 29 on international co-operation for 2005 is €470.8 million, an increase of €70 million on the 2004 figure. As a result, total official development aid, ODA, for 2005 is expected to amount to approximately €545 million when contributions from other Departments have been taken into account. This represents the highest allocation in the 30-year history of the Irish aid programme. In addition, the Government has agreed to provide further increases of €65 million in each of the years 2006 and 2007. These very substantial increases mean that over the three years from 2005 to 2007, €1.8 billion will be spent by Ireland on development assistance. This three-year multi-annual commitment incorporating very substantial annual increases gives my Department a sound basis to carry forward the long-term planning that is so important for development work.

The Deputy will be interested to know that the EU has recently agreed new targets for ODA. These provide that the EU 15 will reach a new collective target of 0.56% by 2010, while member states that have not yet reached a level of 0.51% undertake to individually reach that by 2010. Member states also undertake to achieve the UN target of 0.7% by 2015. The newer member states, which joined after 2002, have lower targets. This decision will bring an estimated €20 billion extra funding by 2010 into play for developing countries and represents a strong signal to other non-European donors. The Government remains strongly committed to the UN target and will take a decision on a date for achieving this in advance of the UN millennium summit in September 2005.