Madam, – The next national budget, on December 7th, will undoubtedly see further swingeing cuts to public spending. Hopefully, all due care will be taken by the Government before final decisions are made about precisely where these cuts should be applied.
For instance, a forensic examination to identify wasteful spending would uncover numerous quangos, conventions and symposiums, not to mention inflated expense claims in the public sector, which could readily be despatched without much public pain.
There will be close scrutiny of the international aid budget with a view to making savings there. However, while changes undoubtedly can be made in this sphere, the Government must be careful not to tear the heart out of Ireland’s hard-won international reputation for humanitarianism by simply cutting funding without considering how to get maximum value for taxpayers’ money in the future.
If the overall aid budget is to be cut, then the Government should be careful to protect the position of those at the centre who have done most, over many decades, to earn and enhance Ireland’s reputation for active, no-frills humanitarianism.
Financial support for the Irish missionary organisations and implementing agencies – that is, those who engage, hands-on, in emergency interventions and who physically deliver programmes and projects – should be ring-fenced.
Cuts to international aid should be strictly confined to the less easily defined, non-implementing fringes.
In order to maximise the impact of Irish aid in the future, the Government should stop channelling aid directly through governments in the developing world, which have a proven record of corruption and brutality. This will ensure that as much aid as possible arrives with those for whom it is intended. – Yours, etc,