Most Irish people did not know how much the Government gave to the Third World until the public debate surrounding the G8 meeting began, the Taoiseach said yesterday.
He was speaking following a meeting with Canadian prime minister Paul Martin, who also spoke on his country's policy on overseas aid and meeting UN targets.
Defending the Government's record, Mr Ahern said it had done "extraordinarily well" to devote €565 million annually to overseas development aid, compared with just €156 million in 1997.
"I welcome this debate because, as I found out, most Irish people did not know the level of money that we give, didn't realise that we give €565 million. They didn't realise that we are the eighth-highest in the world, didn't realise that we were far ahead of most people. I am really glad at last that people are beginning to realise that."
Mr Ahern went on: "I don't feel in any way under pressure about this. When you take something from €156 million to €565 million, it is more about the pressure of justification.
"We are doing extraordinarily well. I am very proud that we are up there in the first seven or eight in the world. The EU commitment is to get to 0.5 by 2010 and 0.7 by 2015. I would like to beat that," said Mr Ahern, who will discuss Third World issues tomorrow with Pope Benedict in Rome.
He again rejected criticisms of the Government's decision not to honour a promise made in 2000 to give 0.7 per cent of the State's gross national product to the world's poor every year from 2007.
"I could not have justified moving from the situation of €600 million to €1.4 billion. I would not have been able to explain that to the Irish electorate. I hope that we would progressively keep upping our figures as we have been doing over the last four or five years," he said.
Praising the Live8 concerts for placing a focus on Africa, the Taoiseach said all countries must now play a role. "Everybody has to try and reach their commitments. They can't be done in isolation. They can't be done alone.
"If Europe reaches its commitments by 2010, that will give €20 billion extra in overseas aid. Those are serious resources, but everybody has to reach their commitments," said Mr Ahern.
The Canadian prime minister, who has been sharply criticised at home for his performance on overseas development aid, said Canada intended to spend 5 per cent of its medical research budget on Third World diseases.
"If you go to Botswana or any one of the countries in Africa, you see the effect of Aids, the effect of malaria, or just simply the effect of childhood disease that affects the ability of young people to absorb education, then you understand that it is important that we deal with Africa in a comprehensive way," he said.
