Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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352. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the increase there will be in Ireland's overseas development assistance, ODA, in 2017; and the percentage of gross national income, GNI, which will be spent on ODA in 2017. [30582/16]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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The Government has allocated a total of €651 million for Official Development Assistance (ODA) in 2017, an increase of €10 million on the 2016 allocation.

Of this total, €486 million will be managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for the Irish Aid Programme. A further estimated €165 million will come from other Government Departments and Ireland’s share of the EU Development Co-operation Budget.

This allocation represents a very substantial investment of public funds in Ireland’s aid programme and is a clear indication of our commitment to increase allocations in a sustainable manner as resources permit. As a result, over the seven years from 2011 to 2017, the Government will have provided a total of just under €4.5 billion in development assistance, for the fight against poverty and hunger in the world.

Based on the current Department of Finance forecast for Gross National Product (GNP) in 2017, this level of allocation for ODA is expected to deliver an ODA/ GNP percentage of approximately 0.29%.