Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I will answer the last question first. We have additional staffing resources. I was delighted to work with my senior colleague in our Estimates campaign with the Minister for Finance. We achieved 20 extra staff for the development and co-operation division. That was some achievement in the current circumstances. I hope most of those staff will be devoted to the area of audit and evaluation and to ensuring the programme is well-run as it begins a rapid expansion towards the achievement of the 0.7% figure by 2012.

I take this opportunity to welcome some of the members of our scholarship programme, students from Africa, who are present in the Visitors Gallery. They are a visible and practical reminder that we are doing a great deal of work on capacity enhancement in the developing world. It is great to have them here today to witness our Parliament at work.

Regarding the questions posed by Deputy Higgins, we are strongly committed to dealing with AIDS. The Taoiseach, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, and I were delighted that when we announced our new timeframe for the achievement of the 0.7% figure in New York, we also announced we would double the amount of money we spend on combatting AIDS. More than anything else, AIDS robs the capacity and the heart of Africa in terms of its ability to respond to its own difficulties and issues.

I reminded Members of the House on previous occasions that in one of our programme countries, Zambia, more teachers die from AIDS than are produced by the teacher training colleges. That shows the extent of the huge difficulties faced by the continent of Africa because of this deadly disease. In terms of whether the NEPAD or African Union income figures are realistic, I would love to be able answer Deputy Higgins on the spot. However, I would prefer to examine the figures in more detail. If he furnishes me with the figures, I will furnish him with a reply.

It is a tragedy that other countries are not as generous as Ireland regarding the millennium development goals. We set a clear, realistic and achievable timeframe within which we can achieve the figure of 0.7%. I call for other larger industrial countries, and members of the G8 economic bloc to come up to the mark and spend as much as Ireland. We are assisting with the Gleneagles package, particularly given the Irish involvement of Bob Geldof.

I am delighted to inform the House that this year, precisely because of the generosity of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, on a €60 million debt write-off, we will reach the 0.5% target ahead of the time we gave ourselves in New York last September. My Department estimates we are on 0.5% of GDP as I speak, because of that debt write-off. Next year will pose another problem and we may fall back slightly from that. However, we will try to be on 0.5% next year also. I hope we will exceed 0.5% next year because it is a strong target. It is good news that we are hitting our targets ahead of the predetermined schedule.

Deputy Higgins raised another issue regarding the millennium development goals. It is a tragedy that in sub-Saharan Africa these goals will not be reached at the current rate of investment and funding. I will reiterate the point that larger industrial countries which spend enormous amounts of money on military hardware must come up to the line and seriously consider redirecting some of their military spending to development.

See this speech in context