asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has satisfied himself that the Irish level of aid to underdeveloped countries is in line with the target expressed by the United Nations.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Aid to Underdeveloped Countries.
56.
I assume that the Deputy is referring to the target of 0.7 per cent of gross national product for official development assistance from developed countries to developing countries which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly at the start of the Second United Nations Development Decade.
Ireland has accepted this target but, like many other developed countries, has been unable to enter into any commitment as to when this target might be reached given the present stage of our own economic development and the relatively recent origin of our development assistance programme.
In 1975 the Minister's party committed themselves to ensuring that, irrespective of budgetary or balance of payments problems, they would set aside year after year the appropriate sum to ensure that they would reach their target of 0.35 per cent of GNP within five years. That specific commitment ruled out any diminution of such commitment by reference to domestic budgetary constraints.
The Deputy is now making a statement.
I am asking the Minister if he accepts that an immediate return to the commitment which this party made in Government and which the Fianna Fáil party made in opposition would be in the interests of international justice and human rights.
I do not intend to engage in any slagging match.
I am not slagging anybody.
In 1975 about which the Deputy talks our contribution was .1 per cent and last year it was .2 per cent. Our contribution doubled in four years.
There is a cut back.
Of course there is, I said that already.
It should be denounced by any right-thinking person.
The Deputy should not be silly, we talked about that before he came in.
We have already spent 10 minutes on this matter.
The Minister should try bluffing somebody else.
We have already spent 12 minutes on this matter.
Not on question No. 56.
On questions Nos. 55 and 56, which are more or less similar. The questions now being asked have already been asked.
Deputy Quinn had been raising constructive questions in this area for minutes before the Deputy came in.
We do not have to have a slagging match, we can see the Government's record on the statute book. In view of the unsatisfactory position that the budget has forced on the Minister, will the Minister outline the Government's thinking on the time-table envisaged in meeting this target? Will the Minister also indicate if there is any thinking at all in his Department that he will stand over and give to the House as to what should be the balance between multi-lateral aid contributions and bilateral aid contributions? What is the time limit and what is the balance between multi-lateral aid commitments and bilateral commitments within that target?
There is a substantial increase in our multi-lateral allocations by reason of Lomé 2 which means that we have an international commitment as part of the community to give these moneys on that multi-lateral basis. I hope to be able to transfer from that column to the bilateral column so as to meet commitments before the end of the year. That, as the Deputy appreciates, has happened before. At the end of this year I would like to get back on stream again with regard to our targets.
Are the Minister and the ODA section satisfied that reaching the UN target through multi-lateral agencies is the most effective way to give aid? Is the Minister happy that many of these multi-lateral agencies are dispensing aid in the way we would like?
It varies. We closely monitor multi-lateral aid and we acquaint Irish firms and personnel with what is involved and they have moved in on the expenditure of multi-lateral aid due to our contacts with them to the benefit of Ireland as a whole. However, I agree that bilateral aid is a more effective way of doing the thing because of the inevitable administration involved in the multi-lateral application of funds. As members of multi-lateral organisations like the EEC and the UN we have to discharge our responsibility. A percentage is allocated to each country. We allocate the percentage in our budgets. In some cases we do not reach that. I do not think we will reach our Lomé figure this year. If it looks as if we will not, I intend to transfer that money over to the bilateral aid area. I will come back to the House on that.
Question No. 57.