Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

As Deputy Higgins will be aware, last year Ireland spent €920 million on official development assistance, ODA. This represented approximately 0.59% of our gross national product and placed Ireland as one of the most generous donor countries in the world on a per capita basis.

In 2009, the Government was faced with the regrettable, but unavoidable, decision to reduce its allocation to ODA. For the record, ODA is expected to reach €696 million in 2009, which, based on current projections, represents at least 0.48% of gross national product. While this represents a significant reduction in volume, our expectation is that Ireland will still remain one of the most generous donors in the world on a per capita basis. This is a significant achievement in the context of the difficult circumstances which afflict the country.

I have stated on many occasions that the Government very much regrets the necessity to reduce the development assistance budget, and, indeed, any budget. I fully understand Deputy Higgins's strong concern over the reduction and its effect on the aid programme. However, we must recognise that this necessary decision was taken solely in the context of Government's absolute priority to stabilise the public finances. This was the sole motivation behind the Government's decision. This is a fundamental prerequisite for the resumption of economic growth, which is the only sustainable way Ireland can meet its future ODA commitments. We have made a public commitment that we will resume the expansion of the aid programme when economic circumstances permit.

I assure the Deputy that the Government remains strongly committed to maintaining the high standards set out in the OECD report, particularly now given the background of international economic crisis which has disproportionately affected the world's poorest countries.

I should also stress that there was no reduction in the important technical expertise which Irish officials bring to their work with our partners. This is also an important aspect of the programme.

The Government is now engaged in the final stages of preparing the budget for 2010. This will be a difficult budget given the current financial climate. There are many competing demands for scarce resources but the Government is determined to bring stability to the public finances. Savings are being sought across all areas of Government expenditure and no area is considered immune. However, I assure Deputy Higgins that our aim is to protect the aid programme to the maximum extent achievable within that process.

As the Deputy will appreciate, in advance of the budget I am not in a position to provide detailed figures on the development assistance allocation for 2010. This is ultimately a matter for the Minister for Finance and will be announced on budget day.

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