Sir, - The recent pre-Budget debate on Overseas Development Aid (ODA) during which Minister of State, Liz O'Donnell threatened to resign in defence of her Department's 1999 budget reinforces the fact that concern for the world's poor is an important issue for the Irish people. However, in her article in last Saturday's Irish Times, in which she defends the Government's performance, Liz O'Donnell is somewhat economical with the figures in terms of meaningful and measurable performance criteria.
Successive Irish governments since the 1970s have aspired to the UN target of 0.7 per cent of GNP for ODA. While the target has been reached by only four countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands), measuring aid as a percentage of GNP provides an indicator of ability to pay and a comparison with other developed countries. Progress towards the target was slow during the 1970s and 1980s, so that by 1993 we had achieved only 0.2 per cent. From 1993 to 1997 there was a steady annual increase to the figure of 0.31 per cent.
Numerous statements at home and abroad by current Government representatives, including a speech to the UN General Assembly in September last by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, committed the Government to a figure of 0.45 per cent by the year 2002. However, the actual outturn for 1998 will be 0.29 per cent and the Budget allocation for 1999 indicates a further fall to 0.25 per cent. So while Liz O'Donnell has fought the good fight the reality is that the 1999 provision is unchanged from that announced in the estimates and the commitments she has secured for the following years will leave the Government very far short of its commitment to reach 0.45 per cent by 2002.
The non-governmental Third World sector for which Dochas is the umbrella body has consistently campaigned for ODA increases based on our knowledge of the reality of poverty for countless millions of people as shown by the often remarkable levels of support we receive from them. During the 1980s and 1990s the aid budget was seen as a soft target by governments looking for cutbacks in difficult times. We protested loudly then but to little avail. It is, therefore, all the more ironic that in times of record growth and revenue surpluses the aid budget is once again targeted.
We live in a time of unprecedented prosperity in our own country and unprecedented poverty in the developing world. The Government has received significant praise for its Budget measures to tackle poverty at home. Yet we live in an interdependent world in which we have a moral and humanitarian obligation to seek to reduce the level of absolute poverty. That obligation is recognised by the Government as is clear from Liz O'Donnell's article. Our commitment can be measured in terms of our ability to pay and our adherence to our own performance criteria. The 1999 budget falls short on both counts. - Yours, etc., P. J. Howell, Chairperson of Dochas,
Deerpark Road, Mount Merrion, Co. Dublin.