As the Government insists it will keep its pledge on Third World aid, Deaglán de Bréadún looks at how the money is being spent
It was a solemn promise. And the whole world was listening. When Bertie Ahern mounted the podium at the UN Millennium Summit in New York four years ago, he pledged Ireland unequivocally to reach the UN target on Third World aid by the end of 2007.
That meant allocating 0.7 per cent of our Gross National Product, or about one billion euro per annum (the forecast at the time was about €800 million).
Governments in the developing world were delighted. Delegates from parched countries broke into sunny smiles and there were congratulations all round. A month later, Ireland romped home in elections to the Security Council.
Now there's just over three years left to the deadline and we're not even halfway there, in cash terms. An attempt to prick the bubble of expectation was made by the recently appointed Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Conor Lenihan, who began his term of office by stating bluntly that it was unrealistic to expect Ireland to reach the UN target by the end of 2007.
But the sniper's bullet from Lenihan was met with heavy artillery in the form of an open letter to the Taoiseach from Bono, Bob Geldof and Mary Robinson, who said they were "deeply disturbed" at reports that the aid target would not be met. Liz O'Donnell of the PDs had to take to the barricades once again on the issue. Meanwhile, UN chief Kofi Annan was in town, stressing the need to fulfil voluntary commitments.
Exit Lenihan, stage right. Enter Mary Harney and the new Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, with soothing words to the effect that the original Cabinet decision to reach the 2007 target-date still stood. But it's still not clear if the Taoiseach's promise will be kept. Dermot Ahern said his Department would do its best in negotiations on the Budgetary estimates, but he questioned whether the organisational framework for proper use of the money was in place. Growth rates had been higher than expected and so the amount of cash involved exceeded expectations, he said.
This is an argument that doesn't wash with Justin Kilcullen, director of the aid organisation, Trócaire. Pending the establishment of a suitable organisational framework, he says any spare cash could be given to the international HIV/AIDS fund, used to defray Third World debt, or sent to crisis areas such as Darfur or North Korea.
In addition to all the humanitarian disasters, this whole area is a linguistic and terminological disaster. The politically-correct term for our Third World aid is Official Development Assistance, and Development Cooperation Ireland (DCI) is the cumbersome title of the division in the Department of Foreign Affairs which looks after most of the ODA (the former and catchier title of Ireland Aid was dropped).
The DCI annual report and accounts for 2003 show that the total ODA for that year was €445.705 million, marking an increase of over €23 million on the previous year in cash terms. But this represents a decline from 0.41 to 0.40 as a percentage of GNP, so the figures are going in the opposite direction from the UN target.
So where does the money go? Over half, or almost €239 million is spent on direct country-to-country "bilateral and other cooperation". The rest goes mainly to various agencies, including Irish ones such as Concern, GOAL and Trocaire, and to international development funds.
It's money well spent, according to Kilcullen, who is very complimentary about the Irish aid effort: "It is very well managed, they have good staff at field level and it is very well monitored by the advisory board, the Oireachtas and by consultants." The programme was "poverty-focused" and, unlike some other countries, Ireland does not use aid as a form of leverage to obtain contracts from the recipient government. "As aid programmes go it is very highly regarded. The OECD's Development Assistance Committee has confirmed that twice in recent years."
There are seven "programme countries" (the English language is once again a casualty) which get priority when it comes to aid. Apart from the fledgling state of Timor Leste, which received close on €3 million in 2003, all the others are in Africa, the world's most poverty-stricken continent. Ireland has a long missionary tradition in Africa and the aid programme seeks to build on that relationship. The priority countries in Africa are, Uganda (€33m in 2003), Mozambique (€29m), Ethiopia (€24m), Tanzania (€19m), Zambia (€14m) and Lesotho (€10m).
The aid programme in Uganda has attracted controversy, with John O'Shea of GOAL voicing strong criticisms of President Yoweri Museveni and his regime which he accuses of corruption and warmongering. But others point to the remarkable progress made by Uganda in economic terms, and in increased educational opportunity and in tackling HIV/AIDS.
A DCI spokesman points out that, "over the past five years in Uganda we, along with other donor countries, have been responsible for training more than 9,000 primary school teachers; that has contributed in large part to the enrolment of over seven million children in primary school". And in the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray, "DCI has been working with the local government for over seven years on a series of water projects that have totally altered the way of life for thousands of local people."
As a result, the relentless advance of the desert has been halted: "What was once the scene of destitution and starvation during those horrendous years prior to the Live Aid concert is now a meadow and river valley that is providing food and a livelihood to many."
In Zambia, "since the late 1980s DCI has provided up to 500 villages in the Northern Province with access to clean water". Previously it took half a day's walk to reach clean water; the girls who were invariably given this task can now go to school instead.
Aid agencies are hoping the Government will now decide to proceed with reaching the 0.7 per cent target on a planned, multi-annual basis. All will be revealed when the Book of Estimates comes out in mid-November. Justin Kilcullen says it is "a political decision" and he is in no doubt about the approach to take: "Let's get to the target." The hungry lands are waiting for Ireland's call.
Deaglán de Bréadún is the Foreign Affairs Correspondent of The Irish Times