Madam, - I am not surprised that Fianna Fáil TD Charlie O'Connor (December 9th) is surprised and embarrassed by the Labour Party campaign to highlight the Taoiseach's decision to renege on the solemn commitment he made to the United Nations in September 2000: that, by 2007, Ireland would reach the UN overseas development aid target of 0.7 per cent of GNP.
However, in his indignation Mr O'Connor has actually let the cat out of the bag on just how far the Government is reneging on its commitment: he confirms that our contribution next year will reach just 0.39 per cent of GNP. The Government has been maintaining that our contribution would be maintained at or around the level of 0.41 per cent achieved in 2001.
Mr O'Connor now confirms this will not be the case.
He also totally misrepresents the achievements of the Labour Party when we were last in government. When Labour went into government in 1992 Ireland's overseas aid contribution amounted to just 0.16 per cent of GNP. By the time Ruairi Quinn delivered his last budget in 1997, the percentage had almost doubled to 0.31 per cent.
After more than seven years of Fianna Fáil/PD government during a period of unprecedented economic growth, the best this administration has been able to do is to increase that to just 0.39 per cent.
The Taoiseach and Mr O'Connor should hang their heads in shame. - Yours, etc.,
JOAN BURTON, TD, Labour Party Spokesperson on Finance, Dáil Éireann, Dublin 2.