Former minister of state Ms Liz O'Donnell has expressed disappointment at the Government's decision to cut the previously announced allocation for overseas aid by €32 million.
Ms O'Donnell, who was the minister of state for overseas aid in the last administration, said she hoped the cut would not be the start of a trend.
However, the Progressive Democrat TD expressed confidence that the Government would increase overseas aid to the United Nations target level of 0.7 per cent of gross national product by the end of 2007.
Labour's spokesman on foreign affairs, Mr Michael D. Higgins, described the decision as a shameful move and a betrayal of developing countries.
The newly-appointed Minister of State for Development Co-operation, Mr Tom Kitt, told aid agencies chiefs last week that the cut was being made because of the general economic downturn.
The decision means the Government will fail to make its own interim target of spending 0.45 per cent of GNP on aid by the end of this year.
However, it says it remains committed to reaching the final target by 2007.
Ms O'Donnell, who once threatened to resign unless Government spending on aid was increased, said that if the economy grew less quickly than it has up to now, the target could even be reached before this date.
Describing the €32 million cut as "big but manageable", she said that the Department of Foreign Affairs would have found it difficult to spend the full allocation for this year anyway.
Mr Higgins accused the Government of betraying the trust shown in it by developing countries which backed Ireland's campaign for election to the UN Security Council. Now that our term on the council was coming to an end, the Government believed the commitment to the UN aid target could be "casually tossed aside".
He called for legislation to ring-fence the commitment to meeting the UN target.
