Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 28: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the development implications in general, and the reduction in food security and production in particular, as is occasioned by the direction of countries in the south towards the production of bio-fuels which are directed at meeting the unsustainable transport practices of the north. [16851/08]

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Rising oil prices have resulted in the diversion of food crops into bio-fuel production and there is now a recognised linkage between the recent increase in energy prices and the resultant increase in food prices. This has been one of the contributors to the recent rise in global food prices.

Other factors have also played a role in food price increases. The rapid growth in some Asian economies has generated an increased demand for dairy and meat products — largely supplied from grain fed animals. An additional factor has been climate change related droughts and poor harvests in major producing countries, most notably in Australia, US, Ukraine and India. These factors have combined to force food prices up, thereby putting them further beyond the reach of the world's poor.

The issue of food security is a priority for the Government. In its White Paper on Irish Aid, the Government recognised that much more needs to be done at a global level to tackle hunger. To that end a special Hunger Task Force was established. Their task is to identify the additional, appropriate and effective contributions that Ireland can make to international efforts to reduce hunger, and thus achieve the first Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty and hunger by 2015.

The recent global increase in food prices, and Ireland's response, will obviously be a key element for the consideration of the Hunger Task Force. I look forward to the final report of the Hunger Task Force which I understand should be ready around the middle of this year.