Ireland's spend on Overseas Development Aid (ODA) is to increase to its highest ever level next year to €814 million, it will be announced in the Estimates this week.
Furthermore, €10 million is to be provided in an effort to reduce waiting times for a driving test which in some parts of the country has risen to a year.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern has secured agreement for a rise in his department's overseas aid budget of €130 million to €729 million, while a further €85 million will be provided in the Estimates for development aid through other Government departments, The Irish Times has learned. This will bring Ireland's commitment to Overseas Development Aid for 2007 to 0.5 per cent of GNP, ensuring the Government is well on track to fulfil its UN target of 0.7 per cent of GNP by 2012.
The increases will be outlined in the Estimates on Thursday as part of an expected total 7 per cent rise in Government spending next year to over €600 billion .
The €130 million increase in the Department of Foreign Affairs overseas aid budget equals the total amount spent on overseas aid in just over 10 years.
The largest spending increases in the ODA budget will be in emergency humanitarian assistance which will rise from €60 million this year to €90 million in 2007.
Contributions to UN and other development agencies will increase from €63 million this year to over €87 million in 2007.
At the launch of the Government's White Paper on Irish Aid in September Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said reaching the 0.7 per cent of GNP target of expenditure on overseas aid will mean spending €1.5 billion annually by 2012. The White Paper set out the blueprint for that spending into the future.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs reaffirmed Ireland's commitment to reaching our target of 0.7 per cent of GNP at a session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September where he said Ireland will be focusing in particular on Africa, poverty reduction and HIV/Aids.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that the Government will announce a €10 million provision in the Estimates for the Road Safety Authority (RSA) to take measures in 2007 in an effort to cut the waiting time for a driving test.
The supplementary funding is likely to be used to fund a new overtime bonus scheme for driving testers and, if necessary, a second contract for the private sector to carry out tests. The RSA will also consider other measures when it meets in December to review progress in reducing the backlog over the last 12 months.
While the average waiting time for a test has fallen in recent months to 28 weeks, in some centres drivers must wait over one year to be tested.
More than 134,000 people are now on the driving test list. The longest testing delay is in Navan at 62 weeks.
Under the existing bonus scheme, 91 of the 131 Department of Transport's driver testers have agreed to carry out an extra 50,000 tests by February 2007. More than 33,000 of these tests have already been delivered.