Ireland's aid efforts will continue to focus on poverty in Africa, the minister responsible for the State's overseas aid programme has insisted, after the Government was criticised for taking aid from other countries to pay for the tsunami relief effort.
The Minister of State for Development Cooperation and Human Rights, Mr Conor Lenihan, said this evening that Ireland's focus in the global fight against poverty was in Africa.
Speaking at an event to mark the publication of the UN Millennium Project report he said: "It is critical at this time, when the focus of all our efforts is quite rightly on South Asia, that we do not forget other parts of the world which are in great need, most specifically Africa.
"The Government's primary focus has always been and will continue to be Africa. Three-quarters of all Government spending on aid is directed to the world's poorest countries in sub Saharan Africa, this year will be no different."
Minister of State for Development Cooperation and Human Rights, Mr Lenihan
"The Government has made it clear that of the €20 million pledged for the tsunami disaster €10 million is additional to the overall aid budget and the remainder will come from my department's Emergency Humanitarian Fund, which is deliberately designed to be flexible to respond to disasters where ever they occur."
Mr Lenihan said the UN report showed that targets set in 2000 could still be achieved by 2015.
"While the bottom line is that significantly more needs to be done by both developing and developed countries to achieve the targets, we do now at least have a clearer roadmap.
"This report has been a critical step in what will be a critical year for development."
The minister said the difficult choices for developed countries in 2005 and beyond will be in the area of trade and the barriers that these countries, including Ireland, build that prevent market access for developing nations.
Earlier today, Oxfam Ireland accused the Government of taking aid from poverty-stricken countries to pay for its contribution to the tsunami relief fund.
Oxfam said half of the State's €20 million donation to victims in southeast Asia had been taken from the emergency humanitarian assistance budget.
"Obviously, this means there's less money to respond to emergencies in Darfur, in Congo, in Uganda and whatever other emergencies arise throughout the year," said spokesman
He said the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, had promised that humanitarian aid for tsunami relief would not be taken from the emergency aid budget. "It leaves a slight sour taste in the mouth that the Government are not using new money," he said.
He added that other countries, such as Norway, Canada and Germany, had ensured their humanitarian funding for other countries was not affected.