Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The measurement of our overseas development aid is dependent on national income. There are always competing demands, even in good times, for increased expenditure and we must manage expectations in other areas in which there is public expenditure. I appeal to the Minister of State in this regard. Is the percentage based on national income? I would prefer if the Minister of State were more positive and clear in his commitment to the achievement of the programme for Government target of 0.7% by 2015. I fully appreciate that there are always competing demands and that we can have strategies, but we need targets for actual expenditure, as well as the lofty aspirations to which we all commit.

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