Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 77: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on the need to ensure a separation between the funding for overseas development aid and such financial commitments regarding climate change which may emanate from the Copenhagen conference. [41933/09]

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 92: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on whether the overseas development aid budget and future financing mechanism to tackle climate change should be kept separate in order to ensure that Ireland's UN commitment to spend 0.7% of gross domestic product on development aid by 2012 is not diluted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41932/09]

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 77 and 92 together.

The UN Secretary General has rightly described climate change as the greatest humanitarian challenge facing the world today. The communities which have been most severely affected by climate change to date have been those in the world's poorest countries. Through Ireland's work in developing countries we can see clearly that they are already suffering the effects of climate change. Increased incidences of adverse weather events are leading to further food insecurity, hunger, disease and an increase in humanitarian disasters. There is an inextricable link between development and climate change activities. Ireland's aid programme addresses the key vulnerabilities of the poor, including the additional challenge of climate change. Likewise, actions undertaken to combat the effects of climate change also need to focus on increasing the ability of communities to deal with other causes of poverty. For instance, climate change actions include improving agricultural productivity, increasing access to water and the availability of local health care.

Agreement on support to developing countries to enable them to respond to the climate change challenge will be a central part of a new global climate change agreement. The Government and all our EU partners are strongly committed to paying our fair share within such an agreement. As far as possible, any such funding commitments should be separate and additional to existing development funding commitments. Given the already considerable development challenges faced by the least developed countries it will be important to ensure that climate change financing does not undermine or jeopardise the fight against poverty and our continued progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. We believe that any financing provided must be adequate, reliable, and predictable. It must also be delivered in a way that complements development assistance.