asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the total amounts allocated by the Government for development aid to the Third World in 1974 and 1975; and the percentage of this country's GNP which these figures represent in each of these years.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Third World Aid.
60.
The total amount expended on official development assistance in 1974 was £2.4 million. This represents .08 per cent of an estimated GNP for that year of £2,950 million.
In 1975, it is estimated that expenditure on official development assistance will be £3.4 million which, on the basis of a provisional forecast estimating the level of GNP for this year to be in the region of £3,700 million, would represent .09 per cent of GNP.
I am a little at sea because the question is answered by the Parliamentary Secretary instead of by the Minister who made the statement. Is the Parliamentary Secreary satisfied that we will achieve the commitment aimed at, namely, .35 per cent of our GNP in three to four years.
The increase has been slow this year because of the general economic difficulty through which this country and other countries have been passing, but the commitment remains unchanged.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that the Council of Ministers last year resolved that the commitments of member States would reach this target without regard to balance of payments or budgetary problems? The Parliamentary Secretary is now stating the very opposite.
No. I am aware that criterion was erected, but the Deputy who made the same point in his contribution here to the debate on the Third and Fourth Reports of Developments in the European Communities did not make it clear that the recommendation contained a substantial modification which envisaged that certain countries, of which this was one, which had particular difficulties, would not be expected to proceed at so fast a rate. Notwithstanding that the Government stand by their intention to reach that point by 1979.
Does the Parliamentary Secretary think that is an adequate statement of our concern? I can, I think, guarantee a real bipartisan approach to this: does the Parliamentary Secretary acknowledge that you cannot, in terms of starvation, take one year with another, as the Minister has said? He did not exactly say that but, taking one year with another, we would reach a certain figure.
There is very little nutrition in lip service and that is all we are getting.
I accept that, but the Deputy will equally accept that this idea of aiding the Third World is relatively new and there is simply no possibility of treating contributions from one year to another as if they were elastic. This is a new idea and it has to be resolved by the Administration or by the public or both combined. That is without prejudice now to what Deputy O'Kennedy says. I did not get a chance to say this last night, but I welcome all the encouragement he gave the Government in his speech on the Third and Fourth Reports when he urged us not to deviate from the intention of keeping up as well as we possibly can with our obligations.
Deputy O'Kennedy rose.
Deputies will resume their seats when the Chair is in possession. The remaining questions will appear on the Order Paper for Tuesday next but Deputies who require answers before that may obtain those answers in the General Office.
The Dáil adjourned at 5 p.m. until 3 p.m. on Tuesday, 15th April, 1975.