Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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75. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans to attend the Financing for Development summit from 13 to 16 July 2015 in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia; his plans to ensure its success; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26632/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, discussions are ongoing on the post-2015 development agenda which is focused on agreeing a set of sustainable development goals which will be targets for developed and developing countries alike. Underlying this framework is the Financing for Development process which seeks to reach an agreement, later this year, among the participating countries on a financing package to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals. These discussions and processes are taking place at UN level and Ireland is an active participant along with other Member States.

As the Deputy referred to in his Question, the next phase of these discussions is the Financing for Development Summit in Addis Ababa in mid-July which will adopt the agreed final outcome of the negotiations. Ireland will be represented at this Summit by a delegation led by my colleague Mr Sean Sherlock T.D., Minister of State for Development, and comprising officials from the relevant Government Departments, including the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and my Department, reflecting the whole-of-Government approach to Ireland's development aid policy. I am pleased that civil society will also be represented on our delegation. The focus of these discussions is on developing channels of finance which are new and innovative, reflecting the shift away from traditional Overseas Development Aid (ODA) as the main source of development finance, and include: leveraging private finance as a catalyst for growth, the development of the private sector and business environment in developing countries, and strengthening the domestic resource mobilisation of developing countries.  

Ireland's engagement in the post-2015 development agenda and the Financing for Development process has been guided by strong inter-Departmental coordination, co-chaired by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government. My Department participates actively in this interdepartmental coordination mechanism while primary responsibility for Ireland's development aid policy lies with the Minister of State for Development and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

My Department welcomes these broad-ranging and open discussions by developing and developed countries with a view to considering various options and sources for scaling-up development finance to support developing countries sustainably and in the best interests of global sustainable development.

The outcome of the Summit in Addis Ababa will be important for the progress of the overall discussions on the post-2015 Development agenda and Financing for Development process. Ireland will be actively engaged in these discussions and will consider the implications for the broader development agenda while the joined-up approach to the discussions will help to ensure that the outcomes achieved will be in line with Ireland's development aid policy and in accordance with the priority of sustainability.