Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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119. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the position regarding our Third World aid and our spend for each of the past four years in actual terms, as per cent of GDP; his current policy regarding reaching 0.7% by 2015; if same is still the target;; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21548/13]

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Last week the Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore TD and I launched Ireland’s new policy on International Development – One World, One Future – where we set out our vision for a sustainable and just world. This policy sets out in very clear terms our goals and areas of focus and affirms Ireland’s commitment to international development and its centrality to our foreign policy. Over the past four years, despite the unprecedented economic difficulties facing the country, this Government, and indeed its predecessor, provided significant financial allocations to Ireland’s development aid programme. Expenditure on Official Development Assistance (ODA) and its percentage of Gross National Product (GNP) for the past four years is as follows:

One World, One Future restates the Programme for Government commitment to achieving the UN target of providing 0.7% of GNP to ODA. However this can only be achieved when economic circumstances permit and in the meantime we will endeavour to maintain aid expenditure at current levels.