Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

138. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the total funding under the different programmes made available for official development assistance in 2016; the percentage of gross national product this funding will amount to, each in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36760/15]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

On Budget day last week the Government announced the first substantial increase in the aid budget in over seven years. For 2016, we have provided a total of over €640 million in Official Development Assistant (ODA), an increase of €40 million, or almost 7% on the 2015 level. €486 million will be managed by my Department through Vote 27 International Cooperation – known to the public as Irish Aid. A further estimated €155 million will be accounted for by allocations to other Government Departments and Ireland’s share of the EU Development Cooperation budget.

The Government is committed to making progress towards the target of spending 0.7% of GNP in ODA. We estimate this level of allocation will result in a projected ODA/GNP percentage of 0.36 % in 2016, a small increase on the 0.35% projected for 2015.

Detailed financial allocations will now be reviewed and planned across the aid programme to respond to current needs. It is clear that in 2016, we will need to increase our direct funding for the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East and Africa through the UN system and trusted Irish and International NGOs. We will use our humanitarian and development assistance in a more coordinated way to respond to the immediate humanitarian crisis and build the resilience of endangered communities against future crisis.

Our challenge now is to ensure Ireland continues to play a leading role in the comprehensive response to the unprecedented levels of humanitarian crisis, especially in Europe’s broader neighbourhood, while ensuring our aid programme remains effective in addressing the root causes of poverty and hunger.