Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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779. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the position regarding overseas aid (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20306/15]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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2015 is a crucial year for international development. We are preparing for three interlinked international conferences: in Addis in July on financing for development, in New York in September on a new set of Sustainable Development Goals and in Paris in December on a new climate treaty. I will lead the Irish delegation to the Conference in Addis, the outcome of which will be essential for success in the subsequent conferences. Ireland is playing a strong international role in the overall process to agree a new framework for global development to follow on from the Millennium Development Goals, post-2015.

The contours of a useful agreement will need to be broad if they are to support the new set of Sustainable Development Goals to be adopted at the major Summit at the UN in New York. Official Development Assistance (ODA) will be a vitally important element of the package, but agreement will also be needed on a much wider range of resources for development. ODA is particularly important for the fight to end poverty in the Least Developed Countries, including many African countries and fragile states. Ireland supports calls to commit to the UN target of allocating 0.15% of GNP in ODA to Least Developed Countries. We already exceed this target.

Against a background of extraordinary economic challenge, the Government has broadly protected and stabilised Ireland’s aid programme and our ODA.

As our economic recovery continues to consolidate and strengthen, the challenge now is to determine how best we can make sustainable progress towards the 0.7% UN target, as we continue to build on Ireland’s world-class aid programme by ensuring we make an effective contribution to the fight to end extreme poverty and hunger post-2015. Ireland is committed to working with EU and UN partners to secure an inclusive agreement at Addis that will support the new, transformative Sustainable Development Goals.