Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 38: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on the inclusion of genetically modified grain in the food aid being sent by donor countries to a number of African countries; and if his attention has been drawn to the implications of same for the planting season, the structure of rural economy, and the devastation created when it is combined with the privatisation of the banking sector as a condition of aid. [16844/08]

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland does not provide food aid directly to any African country. Ireland does however provide financial support to emergency food aid programmes. Such financial support is provided both through the European Commission and through the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

The European Commission does not provide food aid in kind. Rather, the European Commission provides financial support to food aid recipient countries which is used to purchase food, to the greatest degree possible, in local and regional markets. Such schemes are administered by the WFP. I fully support the purchase of food locally where at all possible.

I understand that the WFP's policy on GM food is that this is a matter for the Government of the recipient State, and that the WFP respects their decision. In relation to the privatisation of the banking sector, I should make it clear that Ireland does not make the privatisation of the banking sector a condition of any of its development assistance.