Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Question 89: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will report on the work of the Hunger Task Force; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23708/08]

Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Question 92: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the effects the increase in world food prices will have on the Irish aid programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23711/08]

Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 112: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the contributions Ireland made at the World Food Programme's World Food Crisis Summit in Rome, Italy on 4 June 2008. [23514/08]

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 89, 92 and 112 together.

I am deeply concerned that the sharp increase in the price of staple food commodities such as corn, wheat and rice is undermining the food security of many millions of individuals and communities throughout the developing world. We already had a situation where over 800 million people were already food insecure and the current price increases can only serve to make this unacceptable situation even worse.

At the recent High Level Conference on World Food Security in Rome, my colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Brendan Smith T.D., highlighted the challenge facing the international community. In the short term we need to respond adequately by providing sufficient food for those who are chronically hungry, and in the longer term we must commit ourselves to addressing the challenges of global hunger. He pointed out that the long term response should include support for sustainable agricultural production in Africa and other food deficit regions and that agricultural production and nutrition should now become major priorities for development aid programmes.

We have responded to the increase in food prices by providing a special grant of €3 million to the Market Mitigation Account of the World Food Programme (WFP) – the specialised agency of the UN system which is tasked with providing food aid to those most in need. This special account has been created to tackle the sudden increase in the price which the WFP now has to pay for their food aid. This brings Ireland's total support to the WFP to over €20 million so far this year. We are one of the largest donors to the WFP on a per capita basis.

We do much more than donate funds. In our Programme Countries, those countries in which we have a deep aid engagement, we are working to make millions of people more food secure and less vulnerable generally to price shocks. For instance in Ethiopia, perhaps the Programme Country most deeply affected by food insecurity, we have increased our support to the Social Safety Nets Programme by 25% to €11 million this year. This funding is preventing over 7 million people from falling into destitution and hunger. I also provided a special grant of €1 million to Goal for their programme in Ethiopia which is targeted at those currently facing famine.

In the longer term, the crisis triggered by escalating food prices has emphasised the importance of the work of the Hunger Task Force. This Task Force was established last year, at a time when hunger was a growing problem and before the food price crisis hit the international headlines.

The aim of this Task Force is to identify the additional, appropriate and effective contributions that Ireland can make to international efforts to reduce hunger, and thus contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goal of halving hunger and poverty by 2015.

The Task Force is chaired by the former Minister for Agriculture, Joe Walsh, and has high profile national and international experts among its membership. I look forward to its Report and recommendations.