Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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80. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the actions that will be taken by Ireland, including action plans, funding, and diplomatic support, to achieve the UN's stated aim of delivering zero hunger, the declaration for which he signed in New York on 25 September 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37679/14]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Last week I was honoured to co-host the High Level International Meeting on Zero Hungerat the UN in New York. The Zero Hunger Challengewas launched by the UN Secretary General in 2012. He set the international community the challenge to achieve an end to global hunger within a generation. There has been significant progress in recent years, but the stark reality remains that over 800 million people across the world still suffer from hunger. Ireland is recognised internationally for our commitment to ending hunger. We have made this a central tenet of our development policy, and of our foreign policy. Since 2011, we have devoted a fifth of Irish Aid funding to actions that will end hunger.

We work on the challenge with governments in our partner countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, with civil society and with the UN.

We have focused in particular on the period from pregnancy to age two – the critical ‘thousand day’ period for a baby. Under-nutrition is linked to almost half of all deaths in children under five. We provide funding for essential interventions such as fortification of foods, iron and vitamin supplements, and promoting breastfeeding and nutritious diets.

We invest in boosting the productivity of poor smallholder farmers,with a particular focus on women. We help farmers to improve the quality of their soil, diversify their crops and to adapt to a changing climate and support links to markets.

I was proud last week to sign the Zero Hunger Declaration to build political will and take action to deliver on our pledge to end hunger, and build a more just world for all.