Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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93. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the expenditure on the trust fund for Africa; the estimated full year cost of increasing expenditure by 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15084/19]

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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The European Union Emergency Trust Fund for stability and addressing root causes of irregular migration and displaced persons in Africa is part of a comprehensive package of EU initiatives to support stability across North Africa, the Horn of Africa and the Sahel/Lake Chad region. The Trust Fund contributes to the tackling the root causes of instability, forced displacement and irregular migration.  It was launched in 2015 at the Valletta EU-Africa Summit on migration, and will run to 2020.

The Trust Fund is financed by the EU institutions,  and EU Member States together with Norway and Switzerland.  Collectively, they have committed €4.2 billion to the Trust Fund to date, with approximately 88% (€3.7 billion) coming from EU institutions and €500 million from bilateral pledges.

Ireland’s total commitment to the Trust Fund for the period 2016-2020 will be €15 million.  €600,000 was paid to the Trust Fund in 2016, €1,000,000 in 2017 and €7.3 million in 2018. Ireland’s total bilateral contribution to the Trust Fund to date therefore stands at €8.9 million. The remaining €6.1 million is to be disbursed during 2019 and 2020.

Incremental increases of the type set out in the Deputy’s question are not planned. However, the effect such increases would have are set out as follows: