There has been a commendable increase in the amount of money Ireland has given to overseas development aid during the past decade.
From just over €51 million in 1992, the Government budgeted to give €425 million this year - an eightfold increase. Thankfully, despite a growth in individual selfishness that has accompanied our hugely increased economic prosperity in recent years, most people do not begrudge using taxpayers' money in this way. Few of us need reminding that whatever about relative differences within our own community, almost nightly on our television screens we see the evidence that our society is better off than the majority of the world's population - in some cases to a degree that is simply beyond the imagination of the luckless people we are watching.
It is good therefore that the Government is committed to the United Nations' aim of giving 0.7 per cent of the State's Gross National Product to overseas development aid. Equally, however, it regrettable that a 10 year track record of increasing commitment has been blunted by trimming just over €40 million from the current aid budget. The Government can argue credibly that by reducing the amount to some €385 this year, it is still giving more than last year (when the amount was €320) and that the percentage of GNP will also be up on 2001. That said, Fianna Fail gave a solemn manifesto commitment to the people that a target of 0.45 per cent of GNP would be reached this year. That is now not the case, because of cuts to the aid budget which have come about by stealth. While the Government is absolutely correct to reduce general spending, development aid should be among the very last area to be trimmed. As it is, the initial clawback of €32 million was among the very first cuts that became known - with the dust from the general election barely settled. This week's disclosure of a further €8 to €10 million has only come into the public domain through diligent academic research.
For Ireland Aid, the State agency that administers the overseas aid budget, broken promises make proper planning almost impossible. Commitments entered into with developing countries and non-governmental organisations will have to be reversed in some cases. If the only way of preventing a finance minister under pressure from hitting an easy target is to enshrine overseas aid levels in legislation, then it should be done. The people Mr Tom Kitt, the Minister of State for Development Co-operation, met this week in Malawi and Zambia, and the people about whom the Taoiseach will be concerned when he goes to the Earth Summit next week, deserve no less.