Madam, – Hans Zomer’s letter on my statement to the UN conference on the impact of the global economic crisis (July 3rd) is disingenuous, and inaccurate.
He fails to acknowledge that in addressing the UN general assembly I spoke very clearly on the adjustments which the Irish Government has had to make to the overseas aid budget.
I did not, as Mr Zomer states, call for “more resources” for the UN. I did call for greater efforts to improve coherence across the UN system. Working together to deliver our aid more effectively will yield improved results, even where budgets are under pressure.
I would urge concerned readers to look at the text of my statement on June 25th, from which Mr. Zomer has not quoted (www.irishaid.gov.ie). I said: “We must recognise clearly the need to deliver life-saving results in the immediate term for the most vulnerable people in the least developed countries. The cruel fact is that we need to do so in a situation where budgets for overseas assistance are under serious pressure everywhere. In Ireland, we have had to take the very difficult decision to adjust our budget for overseas development assistance (ODA) in 2009, with the sole objective of providing the macroeconomic foundation and conditions to enable our economy to return quickly to sustainable growth. This is crucial to enable us to resume expansion of our aid programme.
“In this context, we are maintaining our commitments on ODA targets. We are also maintaining our sharp focus on poverty and hunger in sub-Saharan Africa. And we are ensuring that the global hunger crisis – accentuated by the economic crisis – is a cornerstone of our aid programme…This seriously difficult environment challenges us all to recommit to global development and to ensure that our financial contributions – our ODA – are delivered more effectively and sustainably, with tangible results.” Ireland has taken a lead role internationally in strengthening coherence in the UN. This effort, coupled with our strong focus on helping the world’s poorest and on tackling hunger, were commended by the OECD in its overwhelmingly positive report on the Government’s aid programme, published in May. The report described Irish Aid as a “strong, cutting-edge” development programme which is “highly-regarded both nationally and internationally”. The OECD cited Ireland’s strong focus on poverty reduction and described Irish Aid as “a champion at making aid more effective”.
In 2009, the Government will spend €696 million on ODA. Ireland remains the sixth highest donor in the world in per capita terms, ahead of France, Germany, Spain, Britain and the US and Japan. In the past six years, the Irish Government has provided over €4 billion in overseas aid, of which more than €800 million was channelled through NGOs.
At this time of crisis, I believe it is essential that all of us who are committed to the fight against global poverty and hunger need to work together in a spirit of partnership, even when we disagree. Government and NGOs need to focus relentlessly on how we can make our aid more effective that its impact is felt to the maximum on the lives of the poorest people in the poorest communities in the world. – Yours, etc,