Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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244. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the contribution he has made and intends to make to the initial resource mobilisation and other aspects of the Green Climate Fund; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23907/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 244 and 280 together.

Ireland, along with other Developed Countries, committed in 2009 to mobilising US $100 billion annually by 2020 in International Climate Finance for Developing Countries to come from a variety of sources, both public and private.

Despite our recent difficult economic circumstances and the current constraints that apply in this regard, 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. As noted by An Taoiseach during COP 21 in Paris in late 2015, Ireland will continue our current level of support, which from 2016 to 2020 will ensure €175 million in public funding, mainly for climate adaptation actions.

The Green Climate Fund was established in 2010 by 194 country parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. It aims to support a paradigm shift in the global response to climate change, by allocating its resources to low-emission and climate-resilient projects and programmes in developing countries. The Fund pays particular attention to the needs of societies that are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, in particular Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and African States. It is also designed as an operating entity of the Convention’s financial mechanism.

Ireland has signalled during COP 21 that it will make an initial contribution of €2 million to the Green Climate Fund during 2016 and work on engaging with the Fund is currently underway in terms of completing this process but also in term of building up support over the coming years.