Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 413: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the amount spent on overseas foreign aid for 2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22554/09]

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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In 2008, the Government spent €918 million on Official Development Assistance (ODA). Of this total, €768 million was administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs, through Irish Aid. The remaining €150 million was administered by other Government Departments, primarily for Ireland's allocation of the EU Development Cooperation budget, contributions by the Department of Finance to the World Bank Group, and contributions by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

This level of expenditure on ODA last year amounted to 0.58% of GNP, making Ireland the sixth most generous aid donor internationally, and the fifth most generous in the European Union, in per capita terms. The Government continues to work towards achieving the target of spending 0.7% of GNP on ODA in 2012. We are already well ahead of most of our EU partners in making progress on the EU commitment to reach the 0.7% target by 2015.