I must tell the Parliamentary Secretary that even if the scripts had been available I would still make this point. The Parliamentary Secretary will be aware of the fact that when we last discussed the Third and Fourth Reports of the EEC I devoted a considerable part of my contribution to the Community's responsibility in this area and to the discharge of that responsibility. I said it was vitally important that the public concern which is evident in this country would be matched by a Government contribution, and matched by the party policies on all sides of the House. At the time I anticipated the voluntary contributions from this country, particularly through the Trócaire campaign, would increase substantially this year and events have proved me right. I am not saying I have any gift of prescience, I am not laying claim to any particular foreknowledge of what was to happen. However, it was evident from the level of awareness throughout the country that this would happen.
When we consider that the organisers and administrators of Trócaire have decided that 20 per cent of the total contribution in this and in other years will be set aside towards launching and continuing a programme of educating the public in our responsibilities to the developing world. You can see now, a Cheann Comhairle, how vitally important it is that this House should use every opportunity to help in that educational programme. One of the ways of helping, ineffective or inadequate though it may be, is by supporting the programme clearly and unequivocally on a motion of this kind and giving the reasons why we do so, encouraging the Government where they are meeting these commitments and, to a certain extent, criticising, though not on a party political basis, the Government where they are not.
It is vitally important that the publicity — I am not saying this is a major debate — which normally attaches to debates here should be part of this overall educational programme. We, the representatives of those people who so freely contribute on a voluntary basis, should be seen on a national organised level to match their commitment on a national voluntary level. If, for no other reason than that, these two motions are of vital importance. I would have made this point whether or not the script had been made available and I think the Parliamentary Secretary can now begin to appreciate why I think it is unfortunate that we do not have the script, though I am not making any strong criticism of the circumstances involved. That is No. 1.
No. 2, if one looks at the recent publications in relation to collections on a voluntary basis, one finds a very striking fact. Trócaire receipts from the nationwide collection this year jumped from £260,000 — I anticipated they would increase but not to the figure they actually reached — to £620,000 this year, an increase of £360,000, or almost 150 per cent. That is an extraordinary indication of the commitment of the Irish people, of their willingness to contribute, their awareness of the need that exists throughout the world and of our obligations to these developing countries. If anyone wanted a better indication of what the public mind is, they could not get it more effectively. We hear suggestions of having referenda on matters, which I do not think are of such major significance, to test the public mind. We hear suggestions of having closer contact with the public so that politicians can know how far they can lead the public in various directions but this is a case of how far we can follow the enthusiasm and commitment of the public. We have certainly here a very clear indication of that commitment. And this is the commitment at a time when we all know there are pressing problems— inflation, rising prices and unemployment. I am merely stating the facts. Unemployment is considerably higher than it was last year. There are also other factors which have made the economic condition more critical this year as compared with last year. Allowing for all that, we see this huge increase. It is, indeed, striking.
Another striking fact is that, if we look at an area which is not within our immediate jurisdiction but which is an area with which we have a very close association, the North of Ireland, particularly Derry, and Derry, not because it is a traditional area of Nationalist support but because of the problems of unemployment and social deprivation, which we all recognise as having existed there over a considerable period, problems to a certain extent mirrored in parts of our own community here, we find that the contribution from Derry was £60,000, one-tenth that of the whole country, and that from an area which, by any standards, is certainly the most deprived, and an area which has suffered more by all the criteria of human suffering, economic deprivation, death, destruction and so on, than any other part of the country.
There is a second message from that. Those in need are those who recognise even greater need. Those who suffer recognise even greater suffering. Sometimes those of us who are most comfortable and secure are less conscious of the need and the suffering of others, particularly when we cannot see those who suffer and those who are in need. When one sees a response like that from people who are comparatively deprived it is a very encouraging indication of the fact that there is this awareness within our community, if I may be so presumptuous as to include the good people of Derry in it; I do not say this in any constitutional sense.
I prefaced my remarks by referring to that because, lest I be misunderstood, I want to say that I am not taking any party position on this. I do not think any party should take any special credit for honouring the commitment to the public and that is what is involved. I recognise, and I have said this before, that the Minister and his Parliamentary Secretary have certainly made a very real improvement in this area. Having said that, I must also point out, and it is a fact, that we are not matching the commitment we gave in this area last year, perhaps, for reasons that are understandable, one being the economic stringency of the moment. If the budgetary condition or balance of payments problem in any country is to be the criteria determining how much is available for aid to developing countries, these countries can look forward to a very bleak future indeed.
The Government have committed themselves to increasing our contribution from .1 per cent of GNP to .35 per cent by 1979. If the Government were to act on that commitment given last year, then the Government's contribution this year should be £2.5 million more than it actually is. If I have any one criticism to make of the Minister in this connection it is that we have failed to match that commitment. On a radio programme in which I had a very brief discussion with the Minister sometime after the first meeting of the Council of Ministers in Dublin — I was invited to discuss development aid, though that was not the subject of discussion at the meeting of the Ministers and I have had no opportunity of taking issue with the Minister since — he said that evening that there was no cut back this year and that we were on target. He seemed unduly sensitive when I suggested we were. I do not believe anybody else but the Minister would suggest we are on target. The independent people, who are concerned, have stated we are £2.5 million short of our target. That was prior to the recent confirmation of the awareness of the Irish people.
I want to put it on record, since this matter has come up in the House, that we stand in the position that there should be a consistent allocation from the national Exchequer every year to meet this commitment, irrespective of what the budgetary situation may be at the time. Everybody must know that if this does not happen education, health, transport and power and all the others will be clamouring for their allocation but the one that has the least pressing support will be this particular area because it is farthest from us in terms of its geographical remoteness. What has happened this year could happen again. It could even happen with a Fianna Fáil Government unless on an all-party basis we commit ourselves to reaching at least that commitment, which is only one of up to .35 per cent, half of the commitment established by the United Nations for the same period, which is .7 per cent of our GNP.
We are falling short of our commitment this year by £2.5 million so we are falling short of half of what the UN recommendation is. That does not measure up to the awareness and concern the Irish people have for this problem. I want to tell the Government that they can be assured of the support and sympathy of this side of the House for every effort they make to help this nation discharge its obligations here. This is not on the basis of charity nor is it any humanitarian response on our part but on the basis of our obligations in justice and as part of the international community.
The Parliamentary Secretary in the course of his speech this morning said:
This course of action which is in full compliance with the spirit of the Council decision taken last January, provides a concrete expression of the Government's continuing concern at the truly appalling difficulties conflicting those developing countries most seriously affected by the economic crisis.
We are not doing what we would normally do on a Supplementary Estimate, that is, voting extra money. I am not saying this with any intention of misrepresentation, but to imply that this is purely a procedural vote this morning, that this is an expression of the Government's continuing concern at the truly appalling difficulties, is a little less than being frank. It is possible that somebody might go away from the House this morning believing the Government were actually voting an extra £200,000 when they are not. They are allocating this money to a specific fund and relieving us from the obligation of contributing the same amount to another fund. Is that not the position?
