Robinson opposes aid cut

OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT:FORMER PRESIDENT Mary Robinson has said the present economic circumstances are not an excuse for cutting back on overseas development aid.

Mrs Robinson said she would be sorry if Ireland went back on its commitment to give 0.7 per cent of its gross national product (GNP) to overseas development by 2012.

Maintaining that commitment would be a "litmus test" for Ireland, she suggested that Irish people would not be prepared to accept such cutbacks.

"I believe that we should stick to our principles on this. We can find ways of tightening the belt without doing it over the lives and prospects of access to food of some of the poorest children, women and elderly populations in the world. They need a thoughtful Ireland not to cut back on our development aid," she said.

In the Government spending cutbacks made public on Tuesday, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan announced a reduction of €45 million in Ireland's overseas development budget this year from €914 million to around €870 million.

Mr Lenihan said the Government would still exceed the target of 0.54 per cent for this year of GNP, despite the cutbacks.

Speaking at a conference organised by Concern Worldwide/ActionAid to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Mrs Robinson said Ireland had signed up 35 years ago to an international covenant on economic, social and cultural rights.

It makes it legally binding on states to recognise the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families, she explained.

"That has significance because the rich countries, which include Ireland, have agreed legally to co-operate with the poorer countries to secure the right to food.

"It means in practice that no one will go hungry and yet we have over 800 million people in the world today who do go hungry and who live below an acceptable standard," she said.