Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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133. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on the fact that figures produced by Irish Aid show that about one-third of Irish development assistance is channelled through multilateral channels such as the UN, World Bank and IMF, yet a recent report by the Debt and Development Coalition suggests that no guidelines exists and no Oireachtas debate takes place on the approximately €50 million spent here via the World Bank and IMF; his views on whether the new Development Policy also fails to suggest criteria and evaluation measures for this expenditure, in sharp contrast to the stringent quality criteria for aid spent through NGOs and via partner governments. [42046/13]

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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The Government’s new development policy, “One World, One Future”, sets out the vision, goals and priorities for our overseas aid programme over the coming four years. It was drawn up on the basis of a very extensive public consultation process, and reaffirms Ireland’s strong support for multilateral efforts in the fight against global poverty and hunger. We recognize that, increasingly, global challenges require integrated, global solutions, based on the experience of the lives of people and communities in developing countries. The policy commits the Government to continuing to channel some 30% of our Official Development Assistance (ODA) through multilateral organisations.

Last year, 2012, Ireland provided some €99.6 million in contributions to EU development cooperation programmes, while €59.2 million was channelled through UN development agencies and bodies. Through Irish Aid, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade provided some €27.8 million in funding to World Bank-managed trust funds for work in developing countries. The Department of Finance provided a further €23.4 million. Full details of all the programmes supported, both by Irish Aid and the Department of Finance, can be found in the Annual Report by the Minister for Finance to the Oireachtas on Ireland’s participation in the IMF and World Bank. Multilateral organisations play a vital role in building international agreement on key development challenges. We take the clear view that all development work, including that of the multilateral organisations we support, should be framed explicitly in the context of sustainable development, inclusive economic growth, poverty reduction, country ownership and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Our new development policy states that we will work with all our partners, Governments, NGOs, multilateral organisations and others, to ensure that they adhere to the standards of accountability and transparency that we have set for our bilateral assistance.

As a member of the multilateral bodies involved, Ireland is represented in their governance arrangements. We welcome, and are participating fully in, the ongoing process of reform within the UN, World Bank and the IMF to ensure they can adequately meet the development challenges of a changing world. We are engaging strongly in systematic assessments of the organizational effectiveness of multilateral organisations through our membership of the Multilateral Organisation Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN), a network of 17 donor countries. We have also committed in our new development policy to reviewing the range of our funding for multilateral organisations to ensure that it is as effective as possible and that it is fully aligned with our objectives for international development.