Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Ireland's official development assistance (ODA) budget is €868 million, an increase of €30 million on last year. It is the seventh consecutive year of increase, as we continue to work toward our commitment of allocating 0.7% of GNI to development. The quality of our development programme remains world-class, as has been reiterated in a recent Peer Review of our development programme by the OECD DAC.

COVID-19 has had a profound effect on development. Countries, both developed and developing, have seen their revenue intakes decrease and resource needs dramatically increase. Over 100 million people may have been pushed into extreme poverty during the pandemic.

Where possible and appropriate, Ireland made changes to its 2020 development programme and pivoted our support to respond to the pandemic and its diverse impacts in developing countries. By December, Ireland had re-purposed almost €150 million to the global response to COVID-19, providing approximately €55 million to enable partners responding directly to the pandemic on the ground and approximately €93 million to support responses to the socio-economic damage caused.

Planning for the 2021 development programme includes response and recovery from the pandemic. For example, Irish Aid expects to contribute up to €50 million toward global health, including increased support to long-standing partners GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, and the WHO; as well as support to the COVAX Facility which works to ensure fair and equitable access to vaccines for all.