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IRELAND HAS BEEN called on to strengthen its promise on overseas aid and increase its spending in the area.
Irish Development NGOs today warned of how successive aid shortfalls threaten the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and called on the government to strengthen its promise to spend 0.7 per cent of our GNI on overseas aid by 2015.
In 2000, Ireland committed to reaching the UN target for spending 0.7 per cent of Gross National Product on overseas aid by 2007. This target was later moved to 2012 and current Government policy is to reach the UN target by 2015 at the latest, said Dóchas.
OECD
The latest statistics from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) show that Ireland reduced its spending on ODA by 5.8 per cent in 2012. The government made a cut of 3.1 per cent in 2011. “The Irish aid budget has been reduced five times and by 32.5 per cent since 2008,” said Dóchas.
Hans Zomer, Director of Dóchas, said:
Aid is crucial to the world achieving the MDGs, helping people in poor countries to realise their basic rights to food, education and healthcare. But the continuing financial crisis and the successive aid cuts mean that the MDGs hang in the balance.
The OECD said that “the continuing financial crisis and euro zone turmoil has led several governments to tighten their budgets”. However, they noted that “maintaining aid is not impossible even in today’s fiscal climate”, and urged countries to increase their aid as soon as their budget circumstances allow.
The OECD said that nine countries increased their aid. “We hope that Ireland will follow this path in 2013,” said Dóchas.
We encourage the government to use the forthcoming publication of its new White Paper on overseas aid to detail a plan for achieving the UN goal. Ireland’s overseas aid is effective. It makes real and positive differences to the lives of millions of people across the developing world.
OECD report said that development aid fell by 4 per cent overall in 2012, following a 2 per cent fall in 2011, due to the continuing financial crisis and euro zone turmoil.
Since 2010, the year it reached its peak, ODA has fallen by 6.0 per cent in real terms. Excluding 2007, which saw the end of exceptional debt relief operations, the fall in 2012 is the largest since 1997. It is also the first time since 1996-97 that aid has fallen in two successive years.
Commitment
Minister Joe Costello said that the Programme for Government contains a clear commitment to Ireland’s aid programme, and to the UN target.
He said that last year, thegovernment provided €639 million for development assistance. For 2013, an estimated €623 million has been allocated.
After a period of budget reductions, we have essentially stabilised the aid budget, which is a very significant achievement in current circumstances. The aid programme is at the heart of our foreign policy and reflects the values of the Irish people.
He concluded that during Ireland’s EU Presidency the country will continue to work with its EU partners “to emphasise the transformative role of development cooperation and to ensure maximum impact in the delivery of assistance to developing countries”.
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I’m not usually one to heap praise on the government but everyone is a genius in hindsight.
I felt they reacted very well in the beginning to an unknown and terrifying virus.
I had expected the usual approach of lagging behind and reacting to developments but they got ahead of it and everything was taken care of.
If they spent or bought too much stock? Better than too little in the face of the unknown.
Toibin is trying to score easy points.
His suggestion that anyone could have come up with the app is laughable.
@Keniby: I feel Ireland was poor in the beginning tbh, especially watching from Vietnam where things got strict as soon as they noticed China was quiet on saying anything and a normal life was had for a good year while most of the world was locked down. Ireland felt very reactionary and never proactive during the early stages. It didn’t feel like the government knew the severity of what was going on until March and NPHET became the real leaders. But compared to countries like the US and Brazil, Ireland did well enough. The population knowing from how bad we had it with diseases in the recent past and getting vaccinated really helped in the long run too.
Anyone who has worked in the IT sector will have seen this before, somebody with no knowledge or experience saying “it should be easy to build the website/app/system” without any deep understanding of what is actually involved.
@Jack Johnson: exactly! Plus its not just the app, its all the backend of the infrastructure. I thought it would have been considered money well spent at the time for what we got vs the cost
Awhhh I’ll miss someone asking how I am every morning
A fella goes to his doctor for a check up and ask’s how long do you think this covid will last, and he replys how the hell would i know i’m a doctor not a politician.
appli pour berger.. les moutons doivent suivre sinon..
have your say