Reaction: The G8 deal, which immediately cancels the debt of 18 of the world's poorest countries, has been broadly welcomed by anti-poverty campaigners.
U2 lead singer and campaigner Bono described it as "awesome" and "one of the greatest moments of my life". He told RTÉ's This Week programme that the debt cancellation campaign was "much bigger than all of us".
Speaking from Cologne on the European leg of U2's tour, Bono said he wanted to see the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern take the lead in the campaign for development aid when he goes to Europe this week.
"Ireland has led the way up until recent times on their commitment to 0.7 per cent of GDP... we have fallen back in Ireland and I think he should not go to Europe without a firm commitment that Ireland is going to get back in the lead," Bono said.
The singer said strict conditions were built into the agreement to avoid the money being spent by corrupt governments.
"The first problem in Africa is not natural calamity or Aids - it's actually corruption and these countries who have their debts cancelled today are only the countries we can be sure the money will be spent well in," he said.
"There will be mistakes, but all in all I think we have confidence that this will only go to the countries that are tackling corruption and where there is a clear and transparent process."
He also paid tribute to the late Pope John Paul II for his work in promoting debt relief for developing countries. "John Paul, he was committed to 100 per cent debt cancellation and worked very hard at it while he was alive. This is a moment for him too."
Singer and Live 8 organiser Bob Geldof said the deal was "a victory for millions of campaigners across the world" but much more needed to be done.
"We must be clear that this is the beginning and the end will not be achieved until we have the complete package demanded by the Commission for Africa of debt cancellation, doubling of aid and trade justice."
Trócaire, the Irish aid agency, welcomed the G8 decision but urged that the debt cancellation package not be funded by existing aid budgets.
Caoimhe de Barra, Trócaire's policy and advocacy co-ordinator, also pointed out that many countries had promised to expand their aid budgets and said the increased aid budgets should not be used to pay for cancelled debts.
She said there was no need to worry that these 18 countries would be unable to handle the money effectively.
However, John O'Shea, chief executive of development agency Goal, said the initiative was "fundamentally flawed" because it was based on the presumption that Third World governments would now use the money saved to care for and look after their own people. "They haven't done it in the past, in fact the opposite is the case," he said
Conor Lenihan, the Minister of State with responsibility for development issues, said the agreement was "a very welcome step in the right direction".
"This particular initiative, while the details are still unclear, should improve matters but it does need to be followed up with further concessions in relation to both trade and levels of aid for poor countries," he said.
