Dan Boyle (Green Party)

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this debate and do not intend to repeat much of what has been said. The Minister of State has been gracious enough to oversee a debate that has proceeded for several hours.

We can have great pride in the Irish aid programme. The many debates we had in the past on our failure to donate 0.7% of gross national product by 2007 are over and there is now a commitment to meet the target by 2012. Not only is this firmly enshrined in the programme for Government, the Government has outlined how it is reaching its annual targets. The manner in which the Government intends to reach its targets in the coming years will be set out in the annual Budget Statement and this represents a further commitment to the concept of Irish aid.

We can all have pride in the fact that Irish aid is given on a different basis to that given by many other donor countries. It is given without conditionality, which means we do not expect a payback in terms of trade advantage or the pursuit of particular political goals by the recipients. It is in this regard that I must refer to an area outside the brief of the Minister of State but which has had an impact on our general aid programme and requires him to try to influence Government policy in general.

I refer in particular to a case in which the Minister for Finance has a role to play in the allocation of a small amount of development aid. The International Development Association, an offshoot of the World Bank that manages a fund that assists development projects throughout the world, held a meeting in Dublin yesterday. An unfortunate aspect of the current replenishment round, the Mozambique round, is that it is being suggested that terms and conditions should attach to how the moneys will be allocated. Given the general Irish policy on development aid and our proud record regarding the distribution of aid heretofore, it would be very disappointing if we gave money, albeit a small sum, to an international programme run in a manner at variance with our own.

Yesterday's meeting was part of a series that began in Paris and continued in Mozambique. The meetings will conclude in Berlin in some months. It is hoped, on foot of the meeting in Dublin, that the Irish Government will make a clear statement that the proposal on replenishment is not in accord with what Ireland would do with its own development aid budget. I ask the Minister of State to use his influence on the Minister for Finance to this effect as the latter has direct responsibility for deciding how much is allocated to the International Development Association. If agreement cannot be reached in the short term, will he ensure we contribute the minimum membership fee until we secure the support of others in the association and the World Bank in general for not attaching terms and conditions to our development aid?

There is an obvious role for Ireland in this regard given the amount of aid we donate, the productive uses to which we put it and the great respect accorded to Irish development aid workers working directly with Irish Aid or non-governmental organisations. On foot of its international reputation, the State should ensure that international organisations such as the International Development Association allocate aid on the right basis and that it will help to bring about the desired changes.