Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 64: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of meetings that have been held of the inter-departmental committee on aid. [21841/09]

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Government's 2006 White Paper on Irish Aid included the commitment to establish an Inter-Departmental Committee on Development, to be chaired at Ministerial level. The Committee was launched in April 2007 with the objective of strengthening coherence in the Government's approach to development and making best use of the expertise and skills available across the public service.

To date, eight meetings of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Development have been held. The most recent meeting was held last week, on 21 May 2009. Once agreed, minutes of the meetings are placed on the Committee's webpage along with reports and presentations made to the Committee by guest speakers.

As the current Chair of the Committee, I am pleased that it has become the key forum for the sharing of knowledge and views on development issues across Government Departments. The Committee is working to ensure that a strong development perspective is integrated into Government decision-making in all relevant areas. Based on a recommendation in its first Annual Report last year, the Committee is currently examining the preparation by a number of Departments of statements on their contribution to the improvement of policy coherence on development issues.

Since its inception, the Committee has discussed a number of important issues which cut across the responsibilities of a range of Departments. These include the report and recommendations of the Government's Hunger Task Force; the impact of climate change on development; the views of Non-Governmental Organisations on improving policy coherence for development; Ireland's engagement with the Bretton Woods Institutions; and the Netherlands' experience in developing a more integrated approach to development issues. The Committee has also received two presentations from the Institute for International Integration Studies at Trinity College Dublin on the preparation of its forthcoming report, 'Policy Coherence for Development, the State of Play in Ireland.' At each meeting, the Committee has also received updates on developments at EU level and on the ongoing work on policy coherence for development within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.