FORMER PRESIDENT Mary Robinson has expressed concern about the cuts in Irish overseas aid spending which, she said, were “proportionally more severe than in any other European country”.
Noting Ireland had “a deserved reputation’’ in the area, she urged the Government to investigate “more innovative, high-tech ways” of helping developing countries.
This could also be mutually beneficial in an increasingly interconnected world, she said.
Mrs Robinson also welcomed the decision to remember the Great Famine with a National Famine Commemoration Day, the first of which takes place next Sunday. She was commenting at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin where she had launched Famine: A Short History, by UCD’s professor of economic history Dr Corman Ó Gráda.
Yesterday, development agencies said that at least 25 jobs in Ireland and hundreds of jobs overseas have been reduced as a result of budget cuts in Irish Aid’s overseas aid.
By the end of 2009, Concern will have cut 500 jobs overseas, including the 16 that had been made redundant in the UK and Ireland, said Paul O’Brien, the agency’s overseas director. This represented about 10 per cent of their total workforce.
The Government gave Concern €26 million last year for non-emergency development projects and this year gave it €20.8 million, a reduction of 20 per cent.
Goal will cut nine jobs from its Irish office after taking a 29 per cent budget cut – down to €14.3 million, according to its chief executive John O’Shea.
In addition, Goal has removed all staff from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and reduced operations in Kenya and Niger, he said.