Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

We had it worked out when I made the commitment. Let us remember what happened in 2002 when economic growth fell back to 1%. The lower the rate of economic growth the quicker one reaches the target. If there were four or five bad years in the economy and we still put in the resources the percentage would bounce back up the line as happened in a few countries. The fact is we have put in record sums of money and we have committed to putting in record sums of money in the next few years. We will have put in €1.8 billion over the three year period. I have spoken with the NGO organisations as has the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Conor Lenihan, in preparation for the White Paper to try to incrementally fix a target. While we have not reached the percentage — I have made that clear time and again in the House and outside — we have put in enormous resources and in regard to our development aid programme we have added additional countries. That we have been able to put in several hundred millions of euro into those programmes is hugely beneficial. We rank seven in the world in terms of our aid which is an extraordinary achievement. We will continue to put in resources because it is money well spent and it is the right thing to do. We do not tie aid and do not do what many other countries do, nor should we but our resources are hugely beneficial. I am still committed to the figure but——

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