Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I have already set out, in my reply to the first question, the basis on which the Government acted last week in order to curb public expenditure. The decision to reduce the budget provided for overseas development assistance in 2009 was a difficult one, but it was necessary in the context of the extremely difficult economic situation the country now faces. The Government is acting now with only one motive, to provide the conditions for renewed economic growth. I have given a clear commitment that when economic circumstances permit, we will resume the expansion in our aid programme, which has been a significant feature of Government policy over the past decade.

It is important to recognise that, even with the reduction in our aid programme from the planned €891 million to €796 million, Ireland will again this year be the sixth most generous donor worldwide in per capita terms. We have a very strong aid programme, recognised internationally for providing untied aid, with a clear focus on the poorest people in the least developed countries. I assure the Deputy that we will maintain the standard of the programme and that we will continue to take a lead internationally on the most basic of issues facing the poorest people in the world, the global hunger crisis. Ireland's partnership with the developing world is making a real difference to the lives of people in 90 countries, and it will continue to do so.

The Government remains firmly committed to achieving the target of spending 0.7% of GNP on ODA. However, we have to face the reality that an exclusive focus on that target is not, in current circumstances, in the interests of our development partners, nor of the credibility of our aid programme. Even if we were to increase the percentage of our GNP allocated to ODA, in the context of a seriously contracting economy, we would simply be offering a proportionately larger slice of a rapidly shrinking cake.

The priorities of the aid programme in 2009 will remain as set out in the Government's 2006 White Paper on Irish Aid. We have not yet taken final decisions on how the budget adjustment of €95 million will be implemented across the aid programme. I do not underestimate the effect of such an adjustment.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

I can assure the House that the action we take in the coming weeks will be based on a rigorous analysis of the whole aid programme in order to ensure its effectiveness and value for money. This analysis, and the subsequent decisions which we will have to take, will ensure that we maintain the central priority of Ireland's development programme, which is to contribute to the reduction of global poverty and hunger, with a particular focus on the poorest people in the least developed countries.

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