Ireland can reach UN aid target by 2012, says Lenihan

Ireland could reach a United Nations target for overseas aid spending by 2012, five years later than originally promised by the Government, under a new proposal being considered by the Cabinet.

Minister of State for Overseas Co-operation, Conor Lenihan, said yesterday he hoped to have Cabinet agreement on a timeframe for aid increases by July.

Mr Lenihan said he had forwarded to Ministers a plan for structured increases in the aid budget which would see Ireland meet the 0.7 per cent of GNP target by 2012.

Five years ago the Taoiseach made a commitment to a UN summit that Ireland would reach the target by 2007. However, last year the Government admitted this would not happen.

Now Mr Ahern and senior Ministers are due to travel to another major UN summit in New York next September, at which aid spending by the wealthy nations will be under scrutiny. The UN now wants all wealthy countries to meet its target by 2015.

"I'm of the very strong view that before we travel to New York we need a strong timeframe for aid increases," Mr Lenihan said yesterday.

"I don't see any opposition to this at Cabinet level."

The "bigger picture" was that Irish aid was still growing in volume terms, and we now ranked eighth in the world in terms of spending, he added.

Ireland had reached another, less well-known target, that of spending 0.15 per cent of GNP on the least developed countries, he pointed out.

"We have to set out a timetable for increases that is realistic and achievable. The public won't thank us if we set a deadline and failed again to meet it."

A White Paper on overseas aid should be completed by next year, he said. As part of the consultation process, a "roadshow" of public meetings is being organised at centres throughout the State, starting in Limerick later this month.

Further meetings have been scheduled for Waterford, Athlone, Galway, Cork, Tralee and Dublin.

Mr Lenihan said the White Paper had "nothing to do with long-fingering" and would establish principles for the aid programme "that will see us to 2015 and beyond".