Written answers

Wednesday, 14 December 2005

Department of Foreign Affairs

Overseas Development Aid

11:00 pm

Photo of Pat BreenPat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 125: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the Government's views on whether the millennium development goals will be achieved within the timescale envisaged; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39171/05]

Photo of Dermot AhernDermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland attaches the highest importance to the millennium development goals, MDGs, which were adopted by the United Nations in 2000. We have incorporated them as the overarching framework of our development co-operation programme. The goals, which include halving the proportion of people in extreme poverty and reducing child mortality by two thirds by the year 2015, correspond to our focus on reducing poverty and supporting the provision of basic services to the poorest people.

Deputies will be aware that the United Nations summit meeting in September conducted the first major review of progress towards the implementation of the millennium development goals. The summit unanimously acknowledged the MDGs as the international framework for development, together with the Monterrey consensus and the Johannesburg plan of implementation. The summit's recognition of the need to accelerate progress towards the MDGs and to make progress on aid effectiveness and on debt relief was encouraging. I was particularly pleased by the acknowledgement of the special needs of Africa, which has long been the main focus of Ireland's development co-operation programme.

Ireland played its part in the lead-up to the September meeting, including through my own role as one of the Secretary-General's personal envoys. We worked to build the necessary support among countries in our own region and to restore momentum both towards the achievement of the MDGs and towards strengthening the United Nations system.

Deputies will recall that during the meeting the Taoiseach announced that Ireland has pledged to raise our official development assistance so as to reach the target of 0.7% of GNP by 2012, three years earlier than the agreed EU deadline of 2015. The timetable we have set ourselves places Ireland in the forefront of donors worldwide.

If the other major donors make equivalent commitments and the developing countries themselves play their part, the millennium development goals are indeed achievable within the timescale envisaged. Ireland will continue to play its part in this regard.

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 126: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the extent to which he, through the EU and UN, together with the international community are combating war and starvation on the continent of Africa; the country or countries to which it has not been possible to provide sufficient support to combat the problem; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39210/05]

Photo of Dermot AhernDermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland's development co-operation programme has Africa at its core. Along with our partners in the international community, we are working to prevent or manage conflict wherever it occurs. As well as directly assisting many of the poorest countries in Africa, Ireland is a strong advocate for the developing world and for international peace and security through our membership of the EU and the UN.

Ireland provides assistance to vulnerable populations suffering the consequences of conflict, recognising that conflict is closely linked to poverty. We work with key partners such as UN agencies and non-governmental organisations, NGOs, to effectively deliver humanitarian assistance to those most in need.

In 2005 alone, Ireland has provided emergency and recovery support to eighteen countries in Africa. This is in addition to core funding which Ireland provides to international agencies, including the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, the World Food Programme, WFP, the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, the UN Development Programme, UNDP, and the Red Cross family on an annual basis, for their efforts to assist vulnerable populations suffering the effects of conflict and food insecurity across the entire continent of Africa.

The EU is the world's largest contributor of development co-operation. At the emergency humanitarian level, the EU strives to meet the needs of the most vulnerable and food insecure populations of Africa. In 2004, the European Commission's Humanitarian Office, ECHO, provided humanitarian assistance of some €297 million to Africa. The EU's long-term development programmes are aimed at rebuilding the social and economic infrastructure of Africa. Ireland supports this work and also the EU's efforts in preventing and resolving conflicts on the African continent. We have supported the EU peace facility for Africa and have also assisted the African Union mission in Sudan, AMIS, as part of the EU's joint actions to foster peace and security in Darfur, Sudan.

I am deeply conscious of the enormity of the challenges facing African nations as they strive to build the foundations of economic and social development, often in a climate of hunger and warfare. Conflict and the resultant human suffering present complex challenges for the international community. The underlying structural problems affecting poverty and stability must be addressed if we are to break the cyclical nature of food insecurity, disease and conflict in Africa. This is pursued through longer-term development assistance.

Ireland has strong development partnerships with six countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Through these partnerships, Ireland fully engages with the Governments, donors, EU and UN agencies on the basis of poverty reduction strategy plans, PRSPs. The PRSPs outline how each country prioritises resources and policies with the objective of reducing poverty. These programmes contain a strong governance element throughout to assist in the building of democratic structures, the rule of law and a culture of respect for human rights.

We face considerable challenges in working in Africa. However, I believe our approach stands the best chance of success in enabling a better future for all of the peoples of Africa.

Photo of Gerard MurphyGerard Murphy (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 129: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the Government programmes which will operate in 2006 aimed at lowering the incidence of HIV and AIDS in the developing world; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39174/05]

Photo of Dermot AhernDermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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HIV/AIDS is the single biggest obstacle to reducing poverty and to attaining the millennium development goals, MDGs. Recent statistics published by UNAIDS indicate that despite decreases in the rate of HIV infection in certain countries, the overall number of people living with HIV has continued to increase. There were an additional 5 million new infections in 2005, mostly among women, bringing the number of people living with HIV globally to its highest level at over 40 million people. More than 3 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses in 2005 including more than 500,000 children. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region most affected globally with 64% of new infections occurring there.

The Government remains committed to combating the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. It is a key priority of our overseas development programme and will remain so in 2006. The Taoiseach announced a doubling of funding to HIV/AIDS and other global communicable diseases at the millennium review summit in September. This will bring annual expenditure on HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases to €100 million.

In 2006 we will intensify funding to a number of the global initiatives currently supported, including the global fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Since its establishment in 2001, the global fund has led to an increase in the overall resources available to fight these diseases and is beginning to have an impact at country level on disease control.

Increased support will also be provided to UNAIDS. We will continue to contribute to the strategic priorities of the organisation and to monitor the implementation of its programmes. In particular, Ireland has a strategic interest in an expanded UN response at country level in Africa. We will continue to encourage a more co-ordinated response on the part of UNAIDS and its co-sponsors.

Ireland funds a number of organisations focusing on the delivery of HIV treatment and care, including the Clinton Foundation. We will intensify our engagement with the Clinton Foundation in 2006, primarily focusing on increasing HIV treatment access in Mozambique and will investigate how to strengthen our partnership in support of other countries in Africa most affected by HIV/AIDS.

HIV prevention will continue to be a core policy objective, and our support to global initiatives focused on the development of HIV preventive technologies — vaccines and microbicides — will continue.

The coming year will see the scaling up of our support through the regional HIV/AIDS programme in southern and eastern Africa and through our programme countries. Increasing resources will be available for HIV prevention and care interventions in some of the worst-affected countries in the region. Strategic interventions concentrated on strengthening leadership, co-ordination and effective use of resources will also be funded both through national systems and NGOs.

Throughout the programmes funded and supported by Ireland, priority will be given to the needs of children made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS and to tackling the gender inequalities that compound women's vulnerability to the disease.

Throughout 2006, Ireland will continue to work with the international community in advocating a sustained and resourced global response to HIV/AIDS that not only increases access to HIV prevention, treatment and care, but also addresses the longer-term structural causes contributing to the spread of the disease.

Photo of John PerryJohn Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 133: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the level of development aid spending for 2006; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39199/05]

Photo of Dermot AhernDermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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In line with the Government's commitment to increasing official development assistance, ODA, an allocation of €600 million has been provided in the Estimates for 2006 to my Department's Vote for international co-operation, Vote 29. This represents an increase of €129 million,27%, on the 2005 level. Taken together with the contributions of other Departments, total ODA is expected to reach a record €675 million in 2006 which, based on current anticipated growth rates, will bring the aid budget next year to 0.47% of GNP.

The following four key areas, as announced by the Taoiseach in his speech to the UN summit in September, will provide the basis for the immediate expansion of the programme. We will: double our funding for efforts to combat HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases to €100 million; provide extra resources to combat famine and hunger and improve our capacity to respond to disasters; provide support for an increasing role for the private sector in development efforts; and increase our support for efforts to strengthen governance and to combat corruption.

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