Madam, – The comment of Peter Power, Minister for State for Overseas Aid, to the effect that the amount spent on the Irish Aid programme is equivalent to what the Government will borrow over 10 days (World News, September 10th) is the weakest possible argument to maintain this programme in the circumstances that now prevail.
The Irish Government has generously provided, on behalf of the people, €5.8 billion in Irish Aid since the turn of the century, while there was the illusion of prosperity. The circumstances of the people are radically different, quite unstable and wholly uncertain. There is a compelling need to use resources efficiently, productively and creatively.
We, as a nation, need to cut our cloth to suit our circumstances and adopt priorities that match these. There is, for example, something wholly irrational about closing embassies that are a potential conduit of investment, trade and reputation recovery and concurrently spending €600 million of borrowed money to be recognised as the sixth largest donor of aid in the world, in per capita terms.
It is certainly a laudable objective to allocate a portion of income to noble objectives. It is a different matter to allocate a portion of debt. Perhaps some effort could be made to jointly sponsor certain aid programmes with other parties, or nations, who have money, rather than seeking to be the sole sponsor. That would mean an aid footprint could be maintained but that Ireland would forego its badge of exclusivity and the sole recipient of credit. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Trócaire welcomes your call not to forget the poorest of the poor (Editorial, September 7th), specifically your plea that no further cuts be made to the overseas development aid budget. Cuts of 24 per cent have already been made, amounting to €222 million. The withdrawal of these funds is having a devastating impact on poor communities where both Irish Aid and Irish non-governmental organisations’ work.
The Government claims that current aid spending of €696 million, which represents 0.48 per cent of GNP, positions Ireland as the sixth most generous donor in the world. Ironically by year’s end that figure might well rise to 0.5 per cent, or above, due to the falling GNP. The McCarthy report recommends that the Government should consolidate its aid spending at 0.48 per cent, thus opening the way for further cuts in the next two budgets.
Trócaire believes that such an approach would not be in keeping with our commitment to the UN policy to have donor countries reach the overseas development aid budget of 0.7 per cent of GNP within an agreed timeframe. This policy was agreed by the UN in 1970 as a mechanism to encourage wealthy countries to increase their aid budgets.
To proclaim that Ireland is the world’s sixth highest donor under the mantle of the UN target while continuing to cut the aid budget (four times since July 2008) is disingenuous. Percentage figures will not save lives; cash will.
The only truly genuine position for the Government to adopt now is to freeze the absolute amount of development aid at €696 million. In doing so the percentage figure will continue to rise against the falling GNP and we will be well positioned to reach our commitments when the economic upturn begins. – Yours, etc,