Written answers

Wednesday, 22 February 2017

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Overseas Development Aid Expenditure

Photo of Maureen O'SullivanMaureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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57. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on the trend of some EU countries applying conditions to development aid and countries using their development aid budgets for border protection. [8693/17]

Photo of Joe McHughJoe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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In the context of the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030, and the unprecedented level of humanitarian need globally, there is recognition internationally of the need for comprehensive policy approaches linking conflict, peace and security and development. Increasing volumes of aid are being allocated to respond to conflicts and crises and in support of addressing their root causes. The EU and member States are responding to the refugee and migration crisis through new instruments, notably the Facility for Refugees in Turkey and the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. Ireland is committed to contributing some €23 million between 2016 and 2019 to the Facility for Refugees. It focuses on humanitarian assistance, migration management, education, health services and socio-economic support for refugees from the Syrian conflict. The migration management element covers work to ensure that the transportation, reception and hosting of migrants returned from Greece to Turkey is carried out in a secure way in dignified conditions, and to avoid further humanitarian tragedies in the Aegean Sea.

Ireland is committed to contributing €3 million over five years, up to 2020, to the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. We work to ensure that the Fund addresses the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement, not least because it is financed overwhelmingly from the development and humanitarian budgets of the EU and member States.

I am committed to ensuring that Ireland’s aid programme will continue to focus on ending extreme poverty, hunger and under nutrition by 2030. Our aid will remain untied. The OECD Development Assistance Committee in its review of Ireland’s aid programme stated that it is particularly impressive that the fight to reduce poverty remains firmly at the core of Ireland’s aid programme.

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