Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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726. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the time frame for Ireland to reach the United Nations target of providing 0.7% of gross national product for official development assistance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28419/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The Government is strongly committed to Ireland’s overseas aid programme, which is at the heart of our foreign policy. “One World, One Future” our policy on International Development, sets out our vision for a sustainable and just world, and reaffirms our commitment to the UN target of providing 0.7% of Gross National Product (GNP) in Official Development Assistance (ODA), and to making further progress on it as our economic recovery consolidates. On 26 May, EU Development Ministers, meeting in the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, reached agreement to reconfirm the EU’s collective commitment to reaching the 0.7% target within the timeframe of the post 2015 agenda, which will run until 2030. The Council also agreed on the need to direct more aid to the Least Developed Countries, particularly to the poorest African countries. Ireland is a world leader in the proportion of our aid which we provide to the poorest countries, and played a crucial role in helping reach agreement at the Council. 2015 is a crucial year for international development and 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. We look forward to working with our EU and UN partners to secure an inclusive agreement in the coming months which will support the new, transformative Sustainable Development Goals.