Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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405. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the degree to which bilateral and multilateral aid from Ireland continues to find the destination for which it was intended; the exceptions to the rule; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28822/20]

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Ireland's international development policy, A Better World, has as its overarching objective the commitment to reach the furthest behind first. Peer Reviews by the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) have consistently found Ireland's development cooperation to be of the highest quality, commending our poverty focus and commitment to Least Developed Countries.

Ireland works with a variety of partners in order to reach those in greatest need, using a combination of bilateral and multilateral aid channels. The partners we work with are considered and measured on the extent to which they can deliver against this overarching objective and the policy priority areas as set out in A Better World.

Both bilateral and multilateral aid play an important and complementary role in ensuring that Ireland’s ODA is directed to where it is needed most and has the maximum impact on the lives of those furthest behind.

Ireland's multilateral partnerships, including our work through the EU and United Nations, give Ireland a significant global presence and footprint, including in fragile states and conflict-affected contexts. This enables Ireland to direct vital assistance to people living in challenging, insecure and difficult to access environments.

Our bilateral partnerships, which includes partnerships with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), focus on our thematic and geographic priorities, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Partnership with civil society is one of the hallmarks of Ireland's development cooperation approach. We are one of the leading OECD DAC donors is providing support to and through CSOs.

These partnership enable us to deliver support to vulnerable communities across the globe.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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406. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which Ireland continues to live up to international commitments in terms of overseas aid, bilateral and multilateral; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28823/20]

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Ireland's development cooperation has maintained a strong reputation for targeting and delivering support to countries and communities in greatest need across the globe. Our Official Development Assistance (ODA) is delivered with, and through, a wide range of bilateral and multilateral partners.

The OECD Development Assistance Committee's recent peer review (May 2020) found that Ireland 'walks the talk' in allocating ODA to least developed countries and fragile states, priority partners and sectors. Ireland is noted as a constructive and reliable partner to multilateral organisations, with funding that is of high quality. In terms of our bilateral partnerships, Ireland is one of the leading DAC donors in providing support to and through Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), with the OECD peer review finding that these relationships are characterised by mutual trust, quality funding, and an open culture for substantive and regular dialogue.

In Our Shared Future, the Programme for Government, the Government committed to making incremental, sustainable progress towards achieving the UN target of spending 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) to Official Development Assistance (ODA) by 2030. In making this commitment, the Government recognised that reaching 0.7% will require a significant expansion in ODA volumes over the next decade and that, at times, difficult choices would be required between competing priorities. Reaching 0.7% would mean sustained, substantial increases during and beyond the lifetime of the current Dáil.

Progress is being made toward the 0.7%. target. From 2014 to 2020 Ireland's allocations to ODA grew from €614 million to almost €838 million, the sixth consecutive year allocations to ODA were increased. On Budget day October 2019, it was predicted that the GNI/ODA percentage this year would be in the region of 0.31%.

Further sustained, managed increments will be required to deliver on the 0.7% commitment by 2030, taking into consideration the range of demands across Government and the capacity of the public finances to meet them. Growing the ODA programme in a steady, measured and graduated manner will ensure that we protect and nurture the good reputation and quality of Irish Aid's work into the future.