Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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47. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his views regarding Ireland's failure to pledge funding to the Green Climate Fund, the main multilateral funding mechanism for fostering climate mitigation and adaptation in developing countries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37498/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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While the Green Climate Fund is a key channel of mobilising climate finance, it is not the only channel. Despite our recent difficult economic circumstances, Ireland has maintained flows of public climate finance, delivering approximately €34 million in grants annually from our Overseas Development Aid (ODA) programme, mainly to our key partner countries in sub-Saharan Africa; Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam and Zambia. Irish Aid also works in Liberia, Palestine, South Africa, Timor Leste and Zimbabwe.

While having regard to economic and budgetary constraints, together with Ireland's obligations under the Stability and Growth Pact, Ireland has established an interdepartmental technical working group to actively consider and present options for scaling up mobilisation of climate finance in the period to 2020, including via the Green Climate Fund. I announced on Budget Day an initial contribution of €2 million to be made to the Green Climate Fund in 2016. On-going work includes consideration of both public and private finance options as well as policy instruments, aiming to develop a credible pathway towards Ireland's contribution to the US$100bn by 2020 commitment by developed countries as a whole.