Ireland's record to date on overseas development aid is an honourable one and has been recognised as such for a number of years. Under successive Irish Governments, the Irish aid budget has grown steadily and substantially each year since 1992, from a low base of £40 million in 1992 to £137 million this year. This upward trajectory, I am pleased to report, is set to continue. This is a moral and political imperative in a world where 1.3 billion people live in abject poverty at a time of plenty elsewhere in the developed world.
The difficulty in the case of the budgets for this year and next is in relation to the size of the aid budget relative to GNP. Because of exceptional GNP growth, it has proven difficult to achieve ODA growth targets in terms of that particular measure of aid expenditure. This is the challenge with which the Government has been grappling over the past few weeks. This meant that we had on the one hand a problem with Estimates levels for this year and next but we also had a longer-term problem in terms of reaching our GNP targets for ODA. During the Estimates campaign I could foresee a vista taking shape of a progressive slippage if firm action was not taken to put aid on a more secure budgetary framework.
This debate arises from concerns which I felt obliged to express to the Dáil in reply to specific questions on our capacity to reach ODA targets to which Ireland is committed. As Minister of State with special responsibility for ODA and human rights, I have a moral and political obligation to defend the right to development, which is, in itself, a human right. I am responsible not only for authorising spending on overseas development assistance but also for overall Government policy in the area. My stance, which I articulated some weeks ago, related not only to the 1999 Estimates but to the longer term responsibility to increase the aid programme. This was clearly reflected in the Dáil debate on Hurricane Mitch last week. Deputies on all sides of the House, who are familiar with aid issues and the difficulty in budgetary terms of increasing the aid budget, recognise the problem.
However, today I am pleased to put on the record of the Seanad that for the first time the Irish aid budget has been placed on a firm financial footing underpinned by the principle of multi-annual budgeting. This is a radical departure in budgetary terms and a substantial achievement. It will ensure that Irish aid is taken into the millennium with confidence and security. It will enable us, together with our partner countries in the developing world and our partner NGOs, to plan strategically for the future. It will permit us to speak with a self-confident voice on the international stage on development issues and to be a stronger force for justice, morality and human rights. It is an approach which will find favour with the Churches and the aid agencies who have lobbied for a broad consensus on honouring a pledge to the poor countries of the world. There is in Ireland a broad cross-party alliance of people of faith and moral purpose to work towards poverty elimination in the wider world.
Irish aid levels will no longer be at the whim of variable GNP levels and domestic budgetary restrictions. From now on we will have secure cash increases year on year up to the year 2001 and, if we remain in Government, beyond 2001. This will enable us to move progressively closer to the UN target of 0.7 per cent of GNP regardless of our growth levels and to our interim target of 0.45 per cent by 2002. The annual Estimates wrangle over aid figures is behind us.
Our overseas development aid budget is composed of three principal budgetary elements. First, we make non-discretionary contributions to international organisations such as the EU, the United Nations and the World Bank. This is a vitally important multi-lateral component of Ireland's aid efforts and allows us to meet our binding obligations arising from international conventions such as payments to the Global Environment Facility, the World Food Programme and the European Development Fund.
The second component of our aid budget is our contributions towards debt relief and the provision of low cost long-term loans to the developing world. We have substantially increased our contributions to assist debt relief and to the International Development Association, which provides loans. Debt relief will from now on be an integral part of Ireland's development aid strategy. Our participation in these multi-lateral institutions gives us a voice which we use to ensure that policies take account of the social, political and economic needs of developing countries.
The third focus of our aid budget is our discretionary spending. This is composed of direct assistance to developing countries through Irish Government funded aid programmes as well as to activities of agencies which are not directly funded by the UN such as the World Health Organisation, the UNDP and UNICEF; funding of the Agency for Personnel Service Overseas, emergency humanitarian assistance and funding of Irish aid agencies operating in the developing world.
Under the new agreement which has been recently agreed by the Government on multi-annual financing, the discretionary spending elements of my budget will be increased by 66 per cent or £62.2 million over the next three years. The total spending on the discretionary element of our budget will amount to £400 million over the next three years. This figure will be over and above the normal increases which allow for inflation and additional to our spending on debt relief and our contributions to international agencies. It is a matter of considerable satisfaction that I have been able to come to this secure form of financial arrangement and to once and for all take the aid budget, as it was said, "out of the push and pull" of annual budgetary negotiations. This new departure in the financial arrangements for the Irish aid budget gives us additional resources with which to strengthen our programmes to eradicate poverty in the poorest countries in the world.
A second new departure in aid policy is our new emphasis on debt relief. I want to stress spending on debt relief is additional to the levels of multi-annual funding for the aid budget and will significantly increase our overall ODA-related spending. Debt relief must go hand in hand with assistance towards poverty reduction. There is no question of diverting money from development activities in poor countries for debt relief purposes. As we will all be aware, the debt level of many developing countries places a crippling burden upon them. Servicing this debt diverts vital resources away from crucial areas such as health and education.
In Tanzania, where 40 per cent of people die before the age of 35, debt payments are six times more than health spending. In Africa as a whole, where half of all children do not attend school, governments transfer four times more to northern creditors in debt payments than they spend on the health and education of their citizens.
The Government recently agreed that Ireland should respond to the debt crisis in the developing world through a comprehensive and forward-looking debt relief package. In addition to mobilising over £31 million for debt relief, it was agreed that debt relief should become an integral part of Ireland's overall overseas development co-operation strategy. We will strongly encourage the international community, both bilateral and multilateral creditors, to take a generous and flexible approach to the heavily indebted poor countries and to take all necessary measures to remove the debt burden on those who are least able to bear it.
The European Union is, of course, also a major provider of assistance to developing countries. Not including the programmes of individual member states, the EU is now the fifth largest donor and directs almost half of its assistance to sub-Saharan Africa. Combined with the aid programmes of member states, the European Union spends the largest amount on development assistance in the world. Ireland is working with other EU member states to ensure that EU expenditure is effective and targeted at those more in need of assistance.
There is a very effective opportunity for advocacy and action on behalf of the people of the developing world from within the European Union, particularly on trade. Ireland has actively participated in the preparation of the EU guidelines or mandate for negotiations on a successor framework to the Lomé Convention. We are working hard to ensure that this framework will strengthen the partnership between the developing world and the EU. These negotiations also present us with an opportunity to be advocates for human rights, good governance and the rule of law in the post-Lomé arrangements.
A further measure of our commitment to the developing world was demonstrated last week. Ireland set the tone at the international pledging conference in Copenhagen by substantially increasing Ireland's voluntary contribution to the International Development Association of the World Bank. Other countries followed with increases. The International Development Association provides long-term loans at low rates of interest to some of the poorest countries in the world.
Development assistance and co-operation works. There are still millions living in abject poverty, but more human beings have escaped from poverty in the past 50 years than did in the previous 500 years. Behind the aid figures is a record of solid progress and achievement attained by the Irish aid programme over the years. Not only has extra funding been committed to aid by successive Governments, but the whole area of policy and application has been fine-tuned and made more professional, effective and efficient.
The main focus or core value underpinning the Irish aid programme has been and continues to be a concentration on assisting the poorest of the poor, with particular emphasis on basic health and sanitation and primary education, in a number of priority countries in sub-Saharan Africa. I will give one example in the education area of how the Irish aid input can make a real difference.
In our programme area in Sidama in Ethiopia, school participation has doubled in the past five years and because of new models of community based schools, where schools are localised and closer to communities, 80 per cent of the new intake of pupils are female. In the health sector in Kibaale district in Uganda in 1994, the only hospital catering to 250,000 people was in poor repair and had only one doctor for 100 beds. With assistance from Irish aid, it is now a fully functional facility with a full complement of doctors. The sole doctor we found there in 1994 has just completed an MSc in Public Health at Trinity College and is about to return to Uganda.
For assistance of this kind to be effective it must be sustainable and the best way to achieve sustainability is through forging partnership relations, formalised by bilateral agreements, with the countries concerned. Since the beginning of our aid programme in the 1970s, Lesotho, Zambia, and Tanzania were priority countries for Irish aid. Following the Government's significant commitment to increased aid from 1992 onwards, Ethiopia, Uganda and Mozambique have been added to the list of priority countries and significant programmes are now established in these countries. The programmes in all cases operate on the basis of partnership with the authorities of the countries concerned and are focused on measures to enhance the quality of life and productivity of poor people. In addition. similar programmes are under way in other countries, such as South Africa and the occupied territories in the Middle East.
However necessary and desirable it may be to implement programmes in a spirit of full partnership with recipient nations, we also recognise that real sustainability can only be achieved if local people have the necessary empowerment through an inclusive democratic process which fosters respect for their basic rights and protects the environment in which they live. We work with Governments and civil society in developing countries to ensure that issues, such as democracy, human rights, gender equality and environmental concerns are prioritised. Last Tuesday we had a valuable exchange of views with Irish NGOs, international experts, academics and many individuals working in the field. Our annual National Forum on Development Aid is a direct dialogue with aid workers and experts in our process of evaluation and policy making in Irish aid.
Over the past year I visited one of our traditional priority country programmes in Zambia, a newer one in Uganda and a number of projects in South Africa. I assure the House that funding from the Irish taxpayer is being effectively applied to improving the life opportunities of some of the world's poorest people and that it is being done in a way that fosters long-term sustainability. In other words, this work will have a lasting impact on the lives of poor people.
Members of this House are as concerned as I am about the levels of emergency humanitarian assistance we can offer. Ireland, together with other developed countries, is regularly called upon to address the aftermath of disasters, whether natural or man-made. The recent natural disaster in Central America is a salient example of this.
The delivery of emergency humanitarian assistance is one of the more visible and easily recognised parts of the Government's development co-operation programme. Through the Emergency Humanitarian Assistance Fund, which amounted to £6 million this year, Ireland responds quickly to emergencies, whether natural disasters or more complex emergencies. Sadly, there is no shortage of such emergencies, many of which are so protracted they are called silent emergencies because of lack of attention. The most immediate disasters appear on our television screens at regular intervals.
The effects of El Nin o which culminated in the recent devastation in Central America wreaked havoc across the world but, most particularly, in those countries which were least prepared. It is usually the poorest people who are the most adversely affected. I need only mention Bangladesh, in addition to the countries of Central America, to give an example of the scale of disaster experienced this year. We must follow up emergency assistance with rehabilitation and reconstruction support to help those most affected by these tragic events to recover and resume their livelihoods. To be effective, these programmes of assistance must be carefully planned, monitored and evaluated and, therefore, take more time than the immediate response phase.
Other more complex emergencies are caused by conflict which is then exacerbated by natural disasters. After 15 years of civil war, drought and floods, the people in southern Sudan have almost exhausted their coping mechanisms and are living in the most extreme poverty. Only a massive delivery of food aid is helping hundreds of thousands of people to survive. However, there are still many cases of severe malnutrition and there is a critical need to address food security issues and non-food health related matters, such as water and sanitation. All the aid experts are agreed that resources will need to be provided on a large scale for at least the next 12 months.
We are also being alerted to a potential humanitarian crisis in southern Somalia where the UN is forecasting serious food shortages. This could deteriorate into a major disaster if a sufficient response is not forthcoming from the international community.
In Sudan and the devastated Central America nations we see the major Irish NGOs, together with UN agencies and APSO personnel in some instances, are well placed to put the funding made available by the Government to effective use. On a day to day basis the allocation of grants to the major Irish NGOs is an equally effective way of channelling support to the most needy. I assure Senators that the valuable work done by NGOs will continue to be supported by the Irish aid programme. In the context of our growing aid budget and as we review and monitor the effectiveness of our overall aid programme, the needs and objectives of NGOs will be kept to the fore.
Next year marks the 25th year of Irish Government involvement in development co-operation. This will be an important opportunity for us to reflect on and consider our achievements. In the context of a growing aid budget, I want us to reflect on and develop a strategy on the overall direction of Irish aid and to look critically at our programmes and policies.
In a sense the debate has already begun. Hurricane Mitch and the Irish aid Estimates for spending in 1999 have already stimulated some healthy democratic debate and comment. Issues, such as the value of debt relief and the importance of long-term development strategies, are already being discussed and acted on at international and domestic levels. I acknowledge the vocal support of the NGO community, the churches, many concerned citizens and the unprecedented alliance of the social partners who supported my stance on the Irish aid budget.
I am confident the multi-annual budgetary process, which I announced today, will greatly assist in reaching the interim target of 0.45 per cent of GNP by the year 2002 set in the programme for Government, An Action Programme for the Millennium. That interim target would still leave Ireland short of the UN target for aid of 0.7 per cent of GNP, which, while accepted by all developed nations, has only been achieved by a few countries. These countries, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, have set a high standard in terms of international solidarity and responsibility. We aim to emulate that standard.
I am sure Senators will agree that Ireland's place is with the leaders, not the laggards. Today we can confidently say that from now on we will be up there with the leaders. Our aid budget will no longer be victim to the annual round of Estimates bargaining. We can now look to the future in a planned and strategic context.
The debate on ODA spending has fuelled a welcome debate in Ireland about our commitment to civilised values, honouring a pledge to the poor of the world and Ireland's role in the wider world at a time of plenty. It has evoked memories of our famine past, our common humanity and our values as a society. I am grateful for the support of Government and party colleagues, particularly that of the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy.
