Sir, - With regard to the freezing of Irish overseas aid, it is now clear what the Celtic Tiger means for the world's poor: our legendary compassion is evaporating in proportion to our economic growth.
At 0.31 per cent of GNP last year, Irish overseas aid was already below both the European average and that of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Our further decline this year to 0.29 per cent follows a shameful trend. While the bulk of the 21 OECD member states gave 0.45 per cent of their GNP on average last year to fight against poverty in the world, the richest G7 countries continued their slide to a pitiful 0.19 per cent average (OECD News Release, June 18th, 1998). Now that Ireland's national coffers are overflowing with budget surplus, are we aping the G7 countries in their callous disregard for global poverty?
Do we have the courage to buck the trend of the super-rich countries? Or must we conclude that the motto of our shiny new Celtic Tiger is: "Charity ends at home"? - Yours, etc., Stephen Jackson,
Director,
International Famine Centre,
University College,
Cork.