Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

We have delivered substantially to overseas development aid. Some €150 million had been delivered when I came to power, and this figure is heading towards €700 million which is a huge achievement. There has been a commitment of €1.8 billion over a three year period which helps NGOs do their job, enables them to provide services and allows us to go into new countries such as East Timor.

Unlike most places in the world, Ireland should be very proud that it does not have tied aid. Former President Clinton said he would like the US to have done half of what we did. It is amazing that people all over the world recognise what Ireland has done for overseas aid. Yes, we decreased our percentage but I did not know in August 2000, when the economy was growing by 11%, that it would only grow by 1% a year later. However, we still continued to provide untied aid at a rate not achieved by anybody else in the world.

Deputy Michael D. Higgins speaks so much and so well on the issue. However, he must remember what his Government did. It reversed the figure.

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