Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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140. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the key achievements of Ireland's international development policy since 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58864/25]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Ireland's international development programme, based on our policy, A Better World, is having a transformative impact on the lives of millions of people who are furthest behind, in over 130 countries.

The Irish Aid Civil Society Partnership, which provides multi-annual funding to Irish NGOs working on development and humanitarian assistance, reached 4.2 million people in 2024 alone.

In response to COVID-19, Ireland delivered more than four million vaccines, primarily to countries in Africa. Since 2020, Ireland has provided €113 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and malaria, helping 25 million people access lifesaving anti-retroviral medications each year.

Ireland continues to champion efforts to address hunger and malnutrition. This year, we pledged €1 billion over four years to fight global malnutrition. Since 2022, through Ireland’s child wasting initiative, €50 million has been provided to improve maternal and child healthcare and social protection to address the root causes of child malnutrition. In the first two years, 50,000 children received lifesaving treatment.

Ireland’s humanitarian assistance reached a record €330 million in 2024. While we have made hugely significant contributions for large-scale crises such as Gaza, Syria and Ukraine, protracted and often ignored crises such as Sudan and Central African Republic and Myanmar, remain central to our response. Ireland consistently ranks amongst the top twenty donors globally in terms of total humanitarian support and is recognised as a principled and flexible donor providing assistance on the basis of need.

Ireland has been a steadfast advocate for the rights of women and girls. We launched our fourth National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security this year. We have also expanded our funding for gender equality, with new partnerships supporting local women’s rights organisations. Since 2024, Ireland has also provided €6 million to UNFPA to support access to Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights which has saved 600,000 lives and prevented 30 million unintended pregnancies and saved 600,000 lives.

We are also strengthening our focus on disability inclusion. Ireland is supporting the UN Global Disability Fund, and, in April 2025, we endorsed the Amman-Berlin Declaration at the Global Disability Summit, which calls for the full and effective engagement of persons with disability in all stages of development cooperation and humanitarian action.

We have also been unwavering in our commitment to inclusive and equitable quality education, providing over €250 million between 2020 and 2024 to support global education.

Significant progress has also been made in scaling up Ireland's international climate finance. This year, we will deliver on the commitment to provide at least €225 million annually in climate finance, using our funding overwhelmingly to support adaptation in some of the poorest and most fragile countries.

The ODA budget for the Irish Aid development programme managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will increase to €840.3 million in 2026, and it will continue to be implemented to prioritise work to reach to the furthest behind first.