Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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333. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the reason national contributions to EU development co-operation have increased in the past two budgets; the parts of the EU development budget to which they are allocated; if these contributions will allow Ireland to influence EU policies in a more progressive way; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36075/16]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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For 2017, the Government has allocated a total of €651 million for Official Development Assistance (ODA), an increase of €10 million on the 2016 allocation. Of this total, €486 million will be administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which manages the Irish Aid programme. A further estimated €165 million will come from other Government Departments and Ireland’s share of the EU Development Cooperation budget.

We believe that an ambitious external aid budget is critical to ensure the EU can meet its commitments in the fight against global poverty, while maintaining its leadership on the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this context, the response to the current migration and refugee crisis has placed significant additional demands on EU development programmes and instruments.

Ireland’s share of the EU Development Cooperation budget is calculated by attributing our percentage share of the overall EU Budget as a Member State to the total EU expenditure on ODA. The EU Commission is forecasting strong growth in ODA-eligible expenditure in 2016 and again in 2017.

Based on the Commission-forecasted increase in the EU Development Cooperation budget for 2017, and an expected increase in Ireland’s percentage share, we are prudently projecting Ireland’s share of the EU Development Cooperation budget to be in the region of €100 million, an increase of almost €10 million on the 2016 established estimate. This accounts for the bulk of the increase in the overall allocation to ODA for 2017.

Ireland’s contributions to the financing of the EU’s development cooperation and humanitarian programmes comprise: our annual share of the EU Development Cooperation budget which covers the Development Cooperation Instrument and Humanitarian Aid; our assessed contribution to the European Development Fund (EDF); and our contributions to a number of specific EU Trust Funds.

The current EDF runs from 2014 to 2020. Although the amount of our EDF contributions has increased from €29.27 million in 2014 to €32.76 million in 2016, as programming demands on the EDF have increased, Ireland’s percentage share of contributions to the EDF has not changed over the past two years. Ireland is also contributing to three specific trust finds: the Trust Fund for stability and addressing root causes of migration in Africa (a voluntary contribution of €600,000 for each of the years 2016-2020); the Colombia Trust Fund (a voluntary contribution of €600,000 per year for each of the years 2016-2020); and the Facility for Refugees in Turkey (a mandatory assessed contribution of almost €23 million over the 2016-2019 period, with a first payment of just over €5 million in 2016).

Ireland engages actively at political and official levels in discussions with our EU partners and with the European Commission Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development to ensure that our development policy priorities are reflected in EU programmes. Member States are currently working to agree a revised EU Consensus on Development to ensure that EU development cooperation is aligned fully with the SDGs and responds to new global challenges. I will attend next week’s meeting of Development Ministers under the Foreign Affairs Council where these issues will be under consideration. I was very pleased also to welcome Development Commissioner Neven Mimica to Dublin last month and I had a constructive meeting with him to discuss Ireland’s priorities for EU development cooperation.