Taoiseach urged to meet UN aid target by 2010

Ireland should increase its overseas aid to the United Nations target of 0.7 per cent of GNP by 2010, according to an Oireachtas committee.

All 17 members of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, including eight Fianna Fáil members and Liz O'Donnell (PD), have called on Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to make this commitment when he addresses the UN summit in New York next month.

However, Mr Ahern is widely expected to announce a later date - most likely 2015 - for meeting the target. The Government has already failed to meet an earlier promise to attain the target by 2007 and overseas aid is actually shrinking as a proportion of GNP rather than growing. Aid currently stands at 0.4 per cent of GNP.

In a report, the joint committee dismissed arguments that Ireland cannot afford to raise its aid budget, that it would prove difficult to spend the extra money, or that it should not be given over fears of corruption.

The report said the expansion of Irish aid is a "crucial step" in tackling the problems facing developing countries. The acknowledged high quality of Irish aid should not be used as an excuse for holding back from the target, it argued.

Using forecasts provided by the Department of Finance, the committee estimated that aid will have to rise from its current level of €545 million a year to €1.3 billion if the target is to be met in 2010.

Fears that this growth in spending will hurt Government services are "unfounded", the report said, as 99.3 per cent of the growth in GNP will remain in the Irish economy.

Whereas our national wealth is expected to grow by €58.5 billion between now and 2010, and €23 billion of this will be available for the public sector, only €787 million will be needed to meet the UN target.

The committee, which is chaired by former Fianna Fáil minister Michael Woods, also calls on the Government to ratify the UN convention against corruption. The "serious problems" with the management of funds in some developing countries made this imperative.

The UN convention has been signed by 123 countries since 2003 but ratified by just 26; 30 signatories are needed before it can come into force.

Development Co-operation Ireland, missionary groups and non-governmental organisations have assured the committee they have comprehensive plans to spend the extra money.

The report expressed concern that just €12 million annually is given to missionaries and called for this allocation to be increased substantially.

The report also called on the Government to increase the allocation for emergency humanitarian assistance, which currently stands at €37.5 million a year, and said individual embassies should have the power to fund local missionary projects.