Recent weeks have underlined the courage, commitment and sometimes tragic sacrifice of aid workers and priests working to alleviate poverty and disease in troubled and dangerous environments where altruism, empathy and political neutrality are not always respected or appreciated. The release of Annetta Flanigan from captivity in Afghanistan is a huge relief, coming after the apparent brutal, senseless murder of Margaret Hassan, writes Martin Mansergh
It is the time of year when aid agencies write to the better-off among us, urging us to give to people living in the most abject poverty. We should do our best. In terms of private and voluntary donations, Irish people are among the most generous in the world. In 1995, Facts About Ireland estimated that contribution to be 1 per cent of GNP. Thanks to a Budget change by Charlie McCreevy, individuals can offset against tax any donation to a recognised charity above €250.
The evidence as to whether public opinion is sufficiently sensitised to the problems of much poorer and often conflict-ridden countries is contradictory. It sticks in the craw when prominent public officials bandy about freely the term "Third World", for example, to describe conditions at Dublin Airport. Whatever deficiencies our services suffer from, calling them "Third World" simply blinds us to the huge gulf in conditions and incomes between Ireland today and the least-developed countries.
In a debate on Thursday about joining the Council of Europe Development Bank, Senator Brendan Daly recalled ruefully that valuable work as development co-operation minister did not protect his Clare seat in the 1992 general election. Senator Paschal Mooney regretted the lack of media interest in the substance of international engagement by Oireachtas members, with media queries often being confined to class of travel and hotel accommodation.
Government defence of the ODA allocations 2005-7 included reference to competing priorities such as disability, schools and hospitals. There is a public attitude that the first duty is to look after problems at home, paralleled by a hard-boiled political version that money spent in Ballyfermot is more electorally rewarding than the equivalent spent by Ireland Aid in, say, Botswana.
In the past, even modestly-ambitious aid targets simply encountered disbelief from the direction of Finance. We do not live under a system of government where the solemn word of this or any other Taoiseach, even if a source of pride to the nation, dictates the outcome of the Estimates process.
Many promises and commitments to raise the level of aid to the Third World have been made by governments generally. The UN target of 0.7 per cent of GNP has been in existence for 30 years. With the exception of some Nordic and Benelux countries, which have exceeded the target, others have fallen well short or gone backwards.
Dr Garret FitzGerald, who deserves great credit for introducing the bilateral aid programme, recalls in his autobiography, All in a Life, a government decision in November 1973 to raise aid by 0.05 per cent a year, but then explains how the financial effects of the first oil crisis blew this off course.
The programme survived the severe cutbacks of the late 1980s to reach a low point of 0.16 per cent in 1992, when Albert Reynolds decided to reverse the direction, soon with the full support of Labour. The "rainbow" government promised to increase aid by 0.05 per cent each year, but only achieved an increase of 0.07 per cent to 0.31 per cent over three Budgets in a period of high growth.
In the intervening period, it has been further raised to 0.4 per cent. It marked time over the past two years, which was fatal to the promise of achieving the full target by 2007. The welcome reinstated floor of a planned three-year increase, as recommended by the DAC committee of the OECD in 2003, should at least bring our aid level, which is untied, closer to 0.5 per cent of GNP by 2007.
When the economy is going well, even a substantial money increase, which is still of real benefit, may not raise the proportion of GNP. In difficult times, other calls on resources are pressing and there is little disposition to exempt ODA from financial restrictions.
The annual money increases of €60-65 million over the next three years, as a guaranteed minimum, would need topping up if they are even to match the increase of €100 million which was found in 2002. However, the ODA budget will have risen from €123 million in 1995 to €535 million in 2005, and this has enabled much progress to be made.
The expansion of the ODA budget over the past 12 years, under successive governments, has allowed more countries to be included and a wider range of programmes to be introduced, covering such areas as basic infrastructure, education, health, especially the fight against HIV/AIDS, and better governance. Vietnam and Sierra Leone have been added. Emergency humanitarian aid is also provided every year on an increasing scale.
One should not exaggerate international disappointment given that Ireland is making a real effort, showing real results since 1992, which compares favourably with a lot of other countries. But we are some way behind the leadership group.
There is substantial support within the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party, as there is within other parties, for going the whole way with the development aid programme. The overall aim has not been abandoned. The only issue is a more realistic and feasible timetable. The new minister, Conor Lenihan, by drawing early attention to the reality of the situation, may have contributed to a better outcome. In 1999, Liz O'Donnell achieved a similar result.
Assigning responsibility for development co-operation to a minister of state - and all of them have been committed to their job - makes obvious practical sense, but it puts them, as advocates of increased funding, at something of a disadvantage by not being in the cabinet. Forceful collective government leadership will be needed if the UN target is ever to be reached.
There are many people in Ireland who will not be content until that long-promised moral obligation is fulfilled.