Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 17: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on progress towards meeting the millennium development goals. [2872/11]

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were agreed by world leaders at the United Nations in 2000 as the framework for international development policy up to 2015. Last September, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and I represented Ireland at the Review Summit in New York, which assessed progress against each of the Goals and the measures required for their achievement 2015. At the Summit, Ireland focused strongly on the first of the MDGs, the reduction of extreme poverty and hunger, which is critical for progress across the full range of Goals.We also argued that international assistance must be directed more effectively to the issues and the countries which have made least progress, notably in sub-Saharan Africa which is the geographic focus of Ireland's aid programme.

The Summit noted that there has been good progress in some areas since 2000, with remarkable improvements in primary school enrolment, access to clean water, child health and the treatment of HIV and AIDS. For instance, almost 90% of children in developing countries are now enrolled in primary education and 10,000 fewer children are dying each day from largely preventable diseases than in 1990. However, progress has been uneven.The actual number of people living with chronic hunger and in extreme poverty continues to increase. Progress on the reduction of maternal mortality has been far too slow.

At the Summit, Ireland took an international lead on the global hunger crisis. With the US Secretary of State, we organised a major international meeting which marked the launch of a new partnership between Governments, civil society and the private sector to address infant under-nutrition. The UN Secretary General, African political leaders and representatives of the private sector and international NGOs all expressed strong commitment to this ambitious new partnership. The Government remains strongly committed to working with our partners for the achievement of the MDGs, with a strong focus on sub-Saharan Africa and on the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger.