An article headed "Report claims poor are losing out to politics" in Monday's editions said that a report from Reality of Aid claimed that £54 million was spent on providing experts, usually Irish, for developing countries in 1999.

The year should have been 1997 and the figure, though given in the report under the heading "How much Irish aid is spent in Ireland", in fact refers to "technical co-operation". According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, "technical co-operation" includes a full range of bilateral aid including education, health, water, sanitation, etc.

The Minister of State, Ms Liz O'Donnell, states that the actual cost of short-term consultancies involving Irish experts and the salaries of experts attached to Ireland Aid offices was less than £2 million in 1999.

The report headed "Food supplement shown to help osteoarthritis" in last Friday's editions may have given the impression that the recent study on glucosamine in the treatment of osteoarthritis was carried out using a food supplement.

In fact, the research was performed using a product formulated as a 1500mg glucosamine sachet which has been licensed by the Irish Medicines Board as a prescription-only medicine. It is anticipated that this particular product will be launched on the Irish market within the next six months.

Where errors occur it is the policy of The Irish Times to correct or clarify as soon as practicable.