Madam, - Bob Geldof has declared that it amounts to moral corruption for the Government to have reneged on the Taoiseach's solemn commitment to the UN General Assembly to increase Ireland's international aid budget to 0.7 per cent of GDP. This may reveal a level of political innocence which could seriously hamper a campaigner trying to deal with Mr Ahern's government.
Mr Ahern made his commitment freely when Ireland was seeking UN votes to secure a seat on the Security Council. The seat was secured, the two-year term expired, and the solemn commitment had then served the entirety of its purpose, which was as an empty electoral promise.
The Government went back on its word, with the remarkably enthusiastic concurrence of the junior Minister responsible for overseas development, Conor Lenihan. His predecessor, still a government TD, spoke out honourably against this slap in the face for the poor.
But while the aid-dependent multitudes are certainly left the worse off by this broken promise, it is perhaps not even possible to measure how much the world benefited from Ireland's two-year membership of the Security Council. - Yours, etc,
HUGO BRADY BROWN, Stratford on Slaney, Co Wicklow.