Provisional outturn figures indicate that overall expenditure on overseas development aid in 2003 amounted to €451 million, an increase of €29 million on 2002 expenditure. The allocation to Vote 29 — International Co-operation — in 2004 is €400 million while elements of ODA administered by other Departments are expected to total some €80 million. Total spending on ODA, therefore, is expected to approach €480 million in 2004, the highest ever in the history of the programme. This level of expenditure demonstrates the strong commitment of the Government to the attainment of the UN target.
The Department of Finance budget 2004 forecasts for GNP growth indicate that GNP will increase to €126 billion in 2005 and to €134.9 billion in 2006. An official Department of Finance forecast for 2007 has not yet issued. However, applying the projected percentage increase for 2006 — 7.06% in 2007 — would indicate that GNP would reach €144.4 billion in 2007. On the basis of these GNP forecasts, total ODA equivalent to 0.7% of GNP would be of the order of €1 billion.
In percentage terms, Ireland is one of the world's leading donors — we are in joint seventh place — and well ahead of the EU average. The Government hopes that increased allocations, the scale and timing of which will be considered on an ongoing basis, will be possible over the coming years with a view to the achievement of our objective.
