Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

The Eurobarometer report of less than two years ago showed that 80% of the citizens polled did not know what the world millennium development goals were, which is a cause of great concern. The Commission's publication of three years ago examined what was aid and what was not. In the Irish case, some of the money allocated ended up as aid but in the case of many member states money had been deflected to other heads. It was not real aid. It is not a matter of the proportion of GDP but also what was covered. This is a matter of real concern. I should be reluctant to mention countries but Italy, for example, would not bear a forensic examination of what was allocated in the name of aid but was not.

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