Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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93. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade further to Parliamentary Question No. 70 of 1 May 2024, the amount allocated to multilateral international organisations in 2024, by organisation, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24088/24]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Each year, as part of the budgetary cycle, the Department estimates and makes provision for payments to multilateral organisations. Such payments may be mandatory, arising from Ireland's membership of organisations - often known as assessed contributions - or voluntary contributions linked to Ireland's support for particular organisations, legal instruments, programmes or projects.

It should be noted, however, that the Department does not agree a formal allocation of budget to each individual multilateral organisation at the beginning of each year. Instead, overall provision is made in the relevant subheads, based on the Department’s best estimate of what will be required.

This estimate has two broad components:

• First, the estimate is based on the Department’s expectations regarding mandatory contributions that arise from Ireland’s membership of multilateral organisations. Ireland’s mandatory contributions are generally “assessed” on the basis of distribution keys, which vary from organisation to organisation, but are typically based on GNI, population size or other such factors. The key used by any given organisation will also change periodically; for example, the UN key, known as the Scale of Assessments, changes every three years. Once an organisation’s annual budget is approved - and the timelines vary from organisation to organisation and can often be subject to delays due to differences of opinion between member states - the relevant distribution key is applied to calculate each member state’s precise contribution and the organisation issues a call for payment. Once the call for payment is received, the final amount to be paid will depend on the currency of payment and the exchange rate at the time of payment.
• Second, as regards voluntary contributions to multilateral organisations, while the Department works within the overall budgets allocated to the relevant grant subheads, individual contributions to multilateral organisations are decided on an ongoing basis throughout the year. The Department maintains a diverse funding portfolio, comprising grants to partner governments, national and international NGOs, as well as UN agencies and other multilateral organisations. All grants are subject to approval on a case-by-case basis, and in accordance with relevant circulars issued by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform. Decisions on grants provided each year to individual organisations will be influenced by a variety of factors, including policy priorities at a given time, humanitarian needs, and an assessment of an organisation’s planned programme and governance arrangements.

The most up-to-date figures for grants to multilateral organisations are already provided in our response to your Question No. 70 of 1 May 2024.