The Government has been criticised for reneging on its promise to reach the UN target of allocating 0.7 per cent of GNP in overseas assistance by the end of 2007.
The Conference of Religious of Ireland (Cori) says Ireland has reneged on its commitment to Third World aid at a time of immense prosperity.
Fr Seán Healy, the director of Cori's justice commission, called on the Government to set a new deadline of 2010 to achieve its Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) target.
He said: "This is the least that Ireland should do given the huge problems being faced by the world’s poorest people".
In a submission to Government on its forthcoming White Paper on Overseas Development Assistance (ODA), Cori says "poverty is the major injustice in a world that is not, as a unit, poor.
"Now more than ever, as Ireland becomes more prosperous, the Government should reach the UN ODA target and exercise its voice within the European Union and in world institutions to ensure that the elimination of poverty becomes the focus of all policy development," it said.
Minister of State for Development Cooperation and Human Rights, Conor Lenihan, today announced €7.2 million in funding for humanitarian relief efforts in a number of countries around the world.
Sudan (both Darfur and in the South), Sierra Leone and Liberia are to receive the bulk of this assistance package which is being channelled through a variety of non-governmental and international organisations, including among others; Concern, Trócaire, Medecins Sans Frontier (MSF), UNDP and the International Rescue Committee (IRC).
Mr Lenihan said: "The objective of this funding allocation is to save lives, protect vulnerable people and alleviate the suffering of victims of conflict and disaster in some of the world's most troubled countries."