Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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98. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which aid is distributed bilaterally or multilaterally to various locations throughout the globe; if he remains satisfied that Irish aid does not find its way to locations in which other jurisdictions only provide aid for trade; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28345/18]

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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The Government is strongly committed to Ireland’s overseas assistance programme, and to its place at the heart of our foreign policy. Ireland’s assistance programme is sharply focused on delivering our goals of reducing poverty and hunger, promoting inclusive and sustainable growth and building more equitable and better systems of governance. My Department provides development assistance to over eighty of the world’s least developed countries, supporting their development needs and responding to emergencies and protracted crises with humanitarian assistance. We work through a wide range of partners and channels, including partner government systems, Irish and international Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and missionary organisations, and UN and other multilateral agencies and organisations.

Funding for multilateral organisations is kept under regular review by my Department, to ensure that it is targeted effectively, and channeled through partners who can contribute most effectively to delivering agreed priorities. In this way, Ireland is playing a strong role in supporting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Multilateral partnerships allow us to reach the poorest and most fragile countries and regions in the world, and deliver real results on the ground: also, through leveraging these partnerships we able to amplify Ireland’s advocacy on our priority issues.

Sub-Saharan Africa is our priority region, where we focus in particular on a number of countries. This engagement is at strategic level, in addition to support for their long-term development. These countries are Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Sierra Leone. Smaller more focused programs are delivered in countries and territories such as Zimbabwe, South Africa, Liberia and Kenya. We also have programmes in Vietnam and Palestine.

The total Bilateral ODA provided by my Department to ODA eligible countries in 2016 was €386 million, 53% of the total amount of Irish ODA. The total Multilateral ODA in 2016 was €337 million, 47% of the total. Some of this was channeled through other Departments. The 2017 figures are being finalised. The full list of ODA eligible countries is published annually by the OECD Development Assistance Committee.

A key principle is that Ireland’s official aid should remain untied - that is, not conditional on acquiring goods and services from Ireland. This is regularly remarked upon by the OECD Development Assistance Committee in their assessments of Ireland’s international cooperation.