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Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, announced the allocation in 2024 of €39.86 million in funding for international development and humanitarian relief. This marks the largest-ever annual contribution from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM). The package includes an advance payment of €35 million for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) under a new €105 million partnership agreement for 2025-2027, representing a 40% increase over the previous Strategic Partnership Agreement. The funding package also includes €4.863 million for Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) programmes, comprising €2.8 million in discretionary funding and an annual assessed contribution of €2.063 million.
Minister McConalogue stated:
“Ireland’s unwavering commitment to addressing global hunger and food insecurity is reflected in this historic level of funding. By strengthening our partnership with the WFP, we are providing life-saving assistance and laying the foundation for sustainable food systems that can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030.”
Highlighting the urgent need for support in regions impacted by conflict, the Minister added:
“The humanitarian crises in Sudan, Gaza, and other conflict zones have left millions of innocent people facing acute hunger. Ireland stands in solidarity with these communities, and our enhanced funding will enable the WFP to deliver critical assistance to those most in need.”
Reflecting on his March 2024 visit to the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya and WFP and FAO projects in South Sudan and Ethiopia, Minister McConalogue emphasised:
“Seeing first-hand the transformative impact of these initiatives reinforced the importance of Ireland’s contributions. Whether providing emergency relief or empowering farmers through sustainable practices, our support delivers real and lasting change."
WFP Executive Director Ms Cindy McCain said:
"Ireland is a longstanding friend and partner to WFP in our mission to end global hunger. The government’s increased contributions are more vital than ever as we scale up our operations to respond to unrelenting needs. Thanks to this funding, WFP can reach vulnerable communities struggling to cope with the devastating impacts of conflict and climate change, and help them build long-term resilience against food insecurity. We look forward to growing our partnership with Ireland in the years ahead.”
Minister McConalogue reiterated Ireland’s strategic commitment to global food security:
“Our partnerships with the WFP and FAO are critical in addressing immediate crises while fostering long-term solutions to hunger and malnutrition. This funding announcement demonstrates Ireland’s leadership in promoting sustainable development and humanitarian relief globally.”
Global Prevalence: In 2024, approximately 735 million people faced hunger, equating to one in ten individuals globally, and one in five in Africa.
Acute Food Insecurity: 290 million people in 60 countries and territories experienced high acute food insecurity, necessitating urgent food and livelihood assistance.
Catastrophic Hunger: Approximately 2 million people are experiencing chronic hunger, primarily in Gaza, Sudan, South Sudan, Haiti, and Mali, teetering on the brink of famine.
WFP is a United Nations organisation responsible for fighting hunger worldwide and is funded exclusively from voluntary contributions. Sustainable Development Goal 2, Zero Hunger, pledges to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture, and is the priority of the WFP.
The Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (DAFM) is the lead department for the Irish Government’s relationship with the World Food Programme, the UN’s frontline humanitarian agency. The WFP-Ireland Strategic Partnership Agreement 2025-2027 contains a commitment from Ireland to increase core funding to €105 million. This includes a €5 million per year allocation to WFP’s trust fund for hunger-related climate change; a €10 million annual allocation to WFP’s work in the Horn of Africa and a contribution in 2025 of €8 million to the WFP Syrian emergency response.
In addition to DAFM’s core funding to WFP, Irish Aid in the Department of Foreign Affairs also provides funding to WFP for its programmes. In the lifetime of the SPA 2022-2024 Department of Foreign Affairs funding to WFP was over €32.9 million in support of activities in Uganda, Mozambique, Syria, Lebanon, Tanzania, Madagascar, Lao PDR, Ukraine, Vietnam, and Gaza.
FAO is a United Nations organisation mandated to help eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, make agriculture, forestry, and fisheries more productive and sustainable, enable inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems and increase the resilience of livelihoods to threats and crises. Further details of the partnership between Ireland and the FAO are outlined in the report FAO + Ireland: Partnering for a Peaceful, Equal and Sustainable World which is available at: FAO and Ireland celebrate collaboration and renew commitment to partnership.
This funding and the partnerships with WFP and FAO are within the framework of Ireland’s policy for international development, "A Better World” , the whole-of-government policy for Ireland’s development cooperation programme, on which DAFM works closely with Irish Aid in the Department of Foreign Affairs.
| International Development Assistance - DAFM 2024 | € | ||
| World Food Programme (WFP) | |||
| Advance payment of 2025 commitment under Ireland – WFP Strategic Partnership Agreement (2025-2027) | 35,000,000 | ||
| Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Ireland - FAO Assessed Contribution 2024 | 2,063,382 | ||
| Emergency Support to Vulnerable Livestock-holding Families - Gaza, Palestine | 1,000,000 | ||
| Support to Vulnerable Livelihoods of Agro-Pastoralists – South Sudan | 475,000 | ||
| FAO-Ireland collaboration (2025-2026) on mainstreaming systems tool for improving the design and implementation of agri-food systems policies | 250,000 | ||
| Standards and Accountability for Effective Relief (SAFER) Improving Food Safety and Quality in Food Assistance A joint FAO-WFP proposal | 247,000 | ||
| World Food Forum 2025 – Youth Engagement, Co-Leadership & Participation for a Better Food Future | 170,000 | ||
| Commit to Grow Equality Initiative | 144,439 | ||
| FAO Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum | 114,000 | ||
| Better understanding risk and enhancing surveillance for FAST diseases in the South-East European neighbourhood | 104,500 | ||
| Multi-Hazard Anticipatory Action Plan to protect food security - Cuba | 100,000 | ||
| FAO Sub-committee on Livestock | 50,000 | ||
| International Plant Protection Convention - Climate Action Contribution | 50,000 | ||
| Livestock Environmental Assessment and Performance Partnership (LEAP) | 40,000 | ||
| Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock (GASL) | 30,000 | ||
| FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture | 13,248 | ||
| Codex Trust Fund | 9,500 | ||
| FAO Total | 4,861,069 | ||
| Total | 39,861,069* |
*Note: This includes a re-allocation of €123,641 of unused IE funds from projects supported in previous years,