Madam, - I read Joan Burton's letter of December 13th with growing incredulity. After all, Ms Burton and the Labour Party are in no position to lecture anybody about "reneging on commitments", especially on overseas aid.
She made a number of points in her letter but seemed conveniently to ignore that the Rainbow Government pledged in its government programme to increase overseas development aid by 0.05 per cent each year. It failed miserably.
Ms Burton's letter is yet another example of the favoured Labour Party tactic of not letting the facts get in the way of a nasty story. But no amount of spin can take away from the fact that, despite the many pressures on the public finances, our total ODA commitment in 2005 will reach €535 million. This is the highest level in the history of the programme and represents an increase of 240 per cent since 1997, when the Labour Party and Ms Burton were last in government.
Ireland is currently the seventh largest donor in the world in percentage terms, well ahead of the EU average. This is an achievement that I believe we can all take pride in. It is certainly not a cause for hanging "heads in shame", as Ms Burton vacuously suggests. - Yours, etc.,
BILLY KELLEHER, TD, Deputy Government Chief Whip, Leinster House, Dublin 2.