Ireland is firmly on course to meet its target for spending on overseas aid by 2012, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said today.
Some €84 million was allocated to Official Development Assistance (ODA) in last month's Budget, bringing the total to €914 million or 0.54 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Mr Ahern said the allocation was another step towards achieving the Millennium Goals - the UN's target of developed states contributing 0.7 per cent of GDP to poorer countries by 2015.
Last year Irish Aid, which administers the ODA budget, added the east African country of Malawi to the eight countries prioritised for aid. The other are: Ethiopia, Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, East Timor and Vietnam.
"The increased budget available will allow Irish Aid to continue to improve the lives of some of the world's poorest people, by focusing on areas such as health and education.
"Our aim is to address the problems of our priority countries, which are largely in sub-Saharan Africa, in such a way as to make our work redundant within a generation," Mr Ahern said.
Irish assistance is "100 per cent untied" meaning there are no conditions attached, Mr Ahern noted. Tied aid is controversial because it often requires the recipient to purchase goods and services from the donor country or follow its policies.
Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) such as Concern, Goal, the Irish Red Cross and Trocaire will be allocated over €100 million for their projects and some €20 million will allocated Irish missionaries this year.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern promised the United Nations in 2002 that Ireland would spend 0.7 per cent of GDP by 2007 however he later acknowledged the target date was unrealistic.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs today said recent OECD figures rated Ireland as the sixth most generous donor per capita and that the target of 2012 was three years ahead of schedule.