Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 351: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs, further to Parliamentary Question No. 205 of 13 October which references his response to Parliamentary Question Nos. 107 and 110 of 12 October, all of which fail to shed light on the substance of the suggestions which were put forward by the EU and supported by Ireland according to his response to Parliamentary Question No. 1224 of 29 September 2010, if he will outline the detail of the above mentioned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39876/10]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As I have stated previously, Ireland is committed to the full realisation of all human rights, and to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, including the seventh Millennium Development Goal of reducing by half, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation. Last year, through the Government's development programme, Ireland provided €12.6 million in direct support to water and sanitation activities through our Programme Countries and civil society organisations. In addition, significant funding was provided to multilateral organisations, including UNICEF, which have a strong focus on water and sanitation in their programmes.

Ireland recognises the existence of human rights obligations relating to access to safe drinking water and sanitation and has supported initiatives at the UN Human Rights Council, most recently the Resolution on human rights and access to safe drinking water and sanitation, adopted at the 15th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva in September 2010 and co-sponsored by Ireland. The topic is nonetheless a complex one, as illustrated by the negotiations on the draft Resolution on the human right to water and sanitation, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 28 July 2010.

The differing views among EU member states were reflected in the fact that Ireland and seventeen of our EU partners (Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom) took the decision to abstain from voting on that Resolution; nine EU member states voted in favour of the Resolution (Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain). This division reflects the ongoing debate in the European Union on this issue. Ireland did not wish to prejudice eventual EU consensus on this issue and took the decision to abstain from the vote on the General Assembly Resolution.

Clarification of the content of human rights obligations relating to access to safe drinking water and sanitation will require further discussion at the UN, as well as among relevant Government Departments. In this regard, Ireland supports the work of the Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, Ms. Catarina de Albuquerque, whose work is mandated by the Human Rights Council. In light of the adoption of the General Assembly Resolution in July 2010 and the Human Rights Council Resolution in September 2010, my Department, including Irish Aid, intends to engage in discussions with other relevant Departments including the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Our deliberations and discussions on these important matters will continue to be informed by the forthcoming reports of the Independent Expert, including her annual reports to the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council.