Minister of State for Overseas Development, Peter Power, reaffirms Ireland’s commitment to tackling hunger and poverty in the developing world in a targeted and effective way in 2010

Addressing the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs today, Minister Power said:

“In 2010, Irish taxpayers, through our development programme, will spend €671 million in some of the poorest countries in the world in the fight against hunger, poverty and exclusion.

“Over the past six years, Ireland has spent over €4 billion on development assistance. In the current crisis this is a very significant aid programme by any international standard.

“In spite of the very challenging economic climate, €671 million represents 0.52% of projected GNP, putting Ireland ahead of the EU target to spend 0.51% on overseas development by 2010.

“In 2010, I expect that we will be allocating well in excess of €100 million to our NGO partners, such as Concern, Trocaire and Goal, and missionaries. I will also provide over €100 million to address the continuing scourge of HIV and AIDS and other communicable diseases and over €50 million to emergencies and funding for fragile states.

“We have now stabilised the budget and the percentage of GNP spent on overseas aid. We can plan for 2010 with certainty. The challenge for us now is to ensure that the considerable amount of precious taxpayers’ money is directly linked to results and outcomes. I believe our conversation now must move on from ‘how much money’ to ‘how well do we do the job’,” Minister Power said.

Referring to the ongoing climate negotiations in Copenhagen, Minister Power added: “While in Copenhagen earlier this week, I held meetings with representatives of civil society and assured them of the Government’s commitment to increase our focus on supporting developing countries as they cope with adaptation and mitigating the impact of climate change within our development programme.

“Ireland is fully committed to paying its fair share within a new global climate change and the Taoiseach has pledged that Ireland will contribute up to €100 million in fast-start funding over the three-year period 2010 to 2012. The exact composition of Ireland’s fast-start package will be finalised by the Government but I can say that it will include substantial new and additional funding for developing countries.”

To see the full text of Minister Power’s statement, visit http://www.irishaid.gov.ie/latest_news.asp?article=1534