SOUTH AFRICA:WITNESSING THE effectiveness of Lesotho's Irish Aid programmes has reinforced how important budgetary cutbacks have been to protecting the future of all the State's development initiatives, according to the Minister of State for Overseas Development.
Peter Power told The Irish Timesin Cape Town yesterday that without the adjustments made to the overseas development budgets in recent years, the future of many of the programmes could have been very bleak.
Ireland’s overseas development budget has been cut by more than 22 per cent since the onset of the recession, prompting aid agencies to complain the cuts will make life much harder for the world’s poorest citizens.
Official overseas assistance for 2010 is expected to be about €671 million, which aid agencies say is at pre-2006 levels.
“If we had not made those difficult decisions [to cut the overseas development budget], it is very possible the existing programmes we support could have been put in real jeopardy ...
“We practise sustainable development in all the countries we support, so it behoves us to sustain our own economy so we can continue to support these programmes,” he said before the Irish Embassy’s St Patrick’s Day reception.
Following his trip to Lesotho earlier this week, during which he visited the Bobete Clinic, one of seven mountain clinics supported in partnership with Irish Aid, Mr Power said it was heartening to see how beneficial development aid could be. “Before this programme was started, many of the people being treated today would have had their lives cut short by the scourge of HIV because they would not have been able to access treatment and care.”
The reception was hosted by Irish Ambassador Colin Wrafter and his wife Aisling de Búrca, who welcomed more than 100 guests, including former education minister Kader Asmal and deputy minister for justice and constitutional development Endries Nell.
Mr Power later met South Africa’s finance minister Pravin Gordhan for talks and to sign a double taxation agreement.
During his speech at the reception, Mr Power reiterated the importance of Irish-South African relations. He assured guests that Ireland remained a good place to do business given the high education standards and its place in the EU, among other things.
“The protocol signed today updates our existing tax treaty with South Africa. It increases certainty and improves the trade environment for Irish businesses selling products or services to South Africa,” he said.
Today and tomorrow Mr Power is due to meet frontline HIV healthcare workers in South Africa’s Limpopo province, where Irish Aid has worked since 1998.