Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 51: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will provide an update on the outcome of the interdepartmental committee meetings on Irish Aid; the position of his Department in such meetings in relation to trade issues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29635/10]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Government's 2006 White Paper on Irish Aid included a commitment to the establishment of an Inter-Departmental Committee on Development, to be chaired at Ministerial level. The Committee, which is currently chaired by Minister of State Power, 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. It has become a 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, including trade, which is vital to developing countries' efforts to end poverty and eradicate the scourge of global hunger.

The Inter-Departmental Committee has met eleven times to date and has held discussions on a wide range of development policy issues. These have included 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; health issues in the context of development; other countries' experience in developing a more integrated approach to development issues; the findings and recommendations of the OECD peer review of the Irish aid programme; and the upcoming Millennium Development Goals Review Summit in September.

At each meeting, the Committee has received reports on developments at EU level and on the ongoing work on policy coherence for development within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Two Sub-Groups have been established, and report regularly to the Committee. The Sub-Group on Multilateral Organisations focuses on the development of a coherent inter-Departmental policy approach for Ireland's participation in international meetings on development, particularly at the United Nations. The Sub-Group on Skills Sets is examining how to make best use across Ireland's development programme of the range of skills and expertise available throughout the public service.

Ireland's international development policy is strongly focused on the fight against global poverty and the eradication of hunger. In this respect, the Government seeks to ensure that the development of global trade builds economic growth and contributes effectively to the reduction, and eventual eradication, of extreme poverty in developing countries. Irish Aid, in the Department of Foreign Affairs, works closely with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation on trade and development issues, including in discussions at EU level and at the World Trade Organisation.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the close cooperation between relevant Government Departments which has developed under the Inter-Departmental Committee is maintained and strengthened so that the full range of policies, including on trade issues, supports the long term objective of eradicating poverty and hunger among the world's poorest people.