John Minihan (Progressive Democrats)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. It has been 14 months since I last had an opportunity to speak on this important subject so I welcome the Labour Party decision to table this motion before us as well as the Government amendment. When speaking on overseas aid it is easy to use emotive language because it is an emotive subject. We live in a global village with 24-hour media coverage, so nobody can have any excuse for not knowing the difficulties faced by people in other parts of the world. However, such is the enormity of those difficulties that it is often difficult for people living in the developed world to fully comprehend them.

In preparing this speech this evening, I felt it would be a useful exercise to update my own knowledge of those difficulties. The World Bank estimates that in 2001, 1.1 billion people lived on less than $1 a day while 2.7 billion people lived on less than $2 a day. While this represents a small reduction from the figures I presented to the House in November 2003, I feel no sense of satisfaction as they remain too high. The World Bank correctly stated that much more remains to be done.

While there has been some overall reduction in global poverty, there are areas of the world where more people are living in extreme poverty. In sub-Saharan Africa, where GDP per capita shrank by 14%, poverty rose from 41% in 1981 to 46% in 2001, while an additional 150 million people are living in extreme poverty. While figures such as these could cause one to despair of ever alleviating the crushing poverty that afflicts so many parts of the world, the reaction of governments and their citizens to the recent Indian Ocean tsunami gives renewed hope for the future. That €70 million could be committed by this Government and its citizens to disaster relief in the region is a great testament to the priority that we give to overseas aid. When speaking last week of how much of an example Ireland is in its approach to development aid, James Wolfensohn of the World Bank stated that it was remarkable for four million people to come up with €70 million. Ireland and its Government have a remarkable record. Whereas our overseas development aid budget stood at just €158 million seven years ago, today it stands at €535 million. According to the figures as outlined, the budget will be €665 million in 2007 which is three times the 1997 level.

It is worth noting that had our GNP remained static since 2000, the Government's visionary commitment to increase the overseas aid budget to 0.7% of GNP would have been met by 2007. The argument is obviously false, however, as GNP has increased significantly since 2000. It is quite likely that by the time the Government reaches its target, the overseas aid budget will exceed €1 billion. It is a daunting figure, but one I welcome as there is still so much to be done to alleviate world poverty.

I compliment the Government on its continued commitment to the development co-operation programme to reduce poverty, inequality and exclusion in developing countries. During last week's debate on the Asian tsunami, I called on the Minister of State to include the Maldives in the programme. As I did not have the opportunity to do so on that occasion, I thank the Minister of State for his comments on the Maldives and his commitment to include it in our overseas aid programme. I trust the commitment will not be to the detriment of established programmes. The main focus of aid must be sub-Saharan Africa where, as I stated previously, conditions appear to be worsening.

The 0.7% of GNP target was set by the Cabinet, which has not decided to fail to meet it. While I accept it will require significant increases to get back on track, a positive result of debate on the matter has been the establishment of three-year, multiannual budgetary commitments. While a minimum provision is guaranteed, it is open to the Exchequer to achieve the original target. We have been thrown off course, but we should not abandon our objective. There is an onus on politicians of all parties to continue to highlight the work of Irish people, NGOs, the Minister of State and his predecessors, Minister of State Deputy Tom Kitt, and my party colleague, Deputy O'Donnell.

I welcome the stated intention of Mr. Tony Blair and Mr. Gordon Brown announced at the recent G8 summit to recommit the West to addressing the growing AIDS crisis in Africa. We need a commitment to a consistent, unanimous approach to helping the less well-off. We have much to be proud of in Ireland and should not continuously knock our efforts. It was only recently that I heard it said one must live away from Ireland for a period before one can really appreciate how good it and its people are. We seem to knock our achievements consistently.

The work of our NGOs, missionaries and people who are committed to the less well-off in the small world in which we now live must be acknowledged. I was privileged to see on the ground in Lesotho the tremendous work to which Senator Browne referred. It could not be done if the Irish people had not committed to overseas development to the extent they have. To empower people in such places to do the work themselves is to give them a great gift. We have much to be proud of nationally and internationally.

I compliment the Minister of State and the officials of his Department on their work. They should not lose sight of the objective. While we have been thrown off course, debates such as this allow us to continue to highlight this issue. Hopefully, we will reach the overseas development aid target by 2007 or shortly thereafter.