Decentralisation will 'scupper' aid plan

Decentralisation will "scupper" any new Government commitment to increase foreign aid to its UN target of 0.7 per cent of GNP, the Impact trade union has warned.

The union, which represents development specialists in the Department of Foreign Affairs, says plans to relocate the official Government aid body, Development Co-operation Ireland (DCI), to Limerick in 2007 "will radically reduce its efficiency".

Impact official Angela Kirk said if the Government was determined to push through its decentralisation of DCI, expertise and continuity would be lost.

She said just 11 of the 123 staff in the section had expressed an interest in moving to Limerick, and none of its 10-strong management team had. "More than 90 per cent of the development staff are likely to leave by 2007," she said.

Ms Kirk said this would mean a huge skills shortage "for years to come", predicting those who currently work in DCI and who do not want to move to Limerick would leave the Civil Service to work for NGOs or other bodies in the field.

It would take years to replace the skills, she said. A portion of the resources which should be going towards meeting the 0.7 per cent target would be used on retraining and recruitment, she said.

"Non-specialist civil servants will not be able to just slip into these roles. These are people who have trained at third level, have bachelor's degrees and master's in Development Aid and who have worked on the ground overseas." A spokesman for the department said there had been 117 expressions of interest from across the Civil Service in transferring to DCI when it moved to Limerick.

He was confident the training and induction of new staff to DCI would "not result in any damage to the integrity" of the section. The 0.7 per cent target was under constant review, he added, and €1.8 billion was being committed to aid by the Irish Government over the three years to 2007. This was one of the highest commitments in Europe, he said.