The Government has supplied the Dail with outdated GNP figures, overstating the level of aid the State is sending to the world's poorest countries, the Labour Party said last night. Replies to Dail questions by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, and the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, show a disparity of some £6.3 billion (€8 billion) in GNP estimates.
The party's spokeswoman on aid and human rights, Ms Joan Burton, said Mr Andrews should apologise for misleading the Dail, describing the difference in the figures as "accounting sharp practice".
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs last night said the answer did not attempt to mislead, and that the Minister had used older figures in order to be consistent.
Replying to a question on October 5th, Mr Andrews said the Republic was committed to reaching the United Nations target for overseas aid of 0.7 per cent of GNP. The Government had an interim target of 0.45 per cent within its lifetime, and was already at 0.35 per cent, he said.
"The allocation in 1999 is expected to reach an all-time high of £178 million," he added.
But according to figures supplied to the Dail by Mr McCreevy last Wednesday, such a sum would represent only 0.31 per cent of GNP. If the Government were to give 0.35 per cent in aid, Irish projects in developing countries would reach £202 million.
The issue turns on the standardised method of calculating GNP, introduced by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and the European Union in November 1998. The newer figures nominally increase the Republic's GNP by around 3.5 per cent - thereby reducing the proportion of GNP given to developing countries.
By continuing to use the older figures, Ms Burton said, the Government was attempting to appear more generous than it truly was.
"The figures supplied by the Minister for Foreign Affairs are seriously misleading. He must come back to the Dail and apologise and present the correct figures," she added.
"It would be appalling if the very poorest countries in the world, and those in the most desperate need, were to be sold short by this type of accounting sharp practice by the Government," she added.
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said there had been no attempt to mislead, and that while Mr Andrews had used the older figures in his answer, he had at the end alluded to the newer method in the calculation of GNP.
"The Minister is expecting to address NGOs [aid groups] in the next 10 days," he added. "For consistency, given the complication, we continued to use the old system."
Observers said that regardless of which figures were used, the Government was now falling far short of its 0.45 per cent target. In his reply, Mr McCreevy indicated GNP would surpass £72 billion by 2002.
This would mean aid levels would have to climb from the £178 million of 1999 to £324 million. Achieving the 0.7 per cent target set by the United Nations for all developed countries would see Irish aid touching £504 million by 2002.
