David Norris (Independent)

I am always available to be instructed from the Minister of State's vast religious repository. The report at this stage is wrong because a tithe is 10%.

Dóchas, among others, has made useful recommendations. The current situation is that we will be reneging on our commitment, which is a pity. The figures represent a major shift in policy as the projected growth falls well short of what was promised. If we are to fulfil what we promised as an effective, credible and well-resourced ODA programme, we need no more broken promises, a multi-annual growth plan with clear and credible benchmarks and a clear timeframe for reaching the 0.7% target. The Minister of State will recall a point made very effectively at the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs by former Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, that the ODA figure needs to be taken out of the annual Estimates. The wrangling is thereby avoided. Legislation is also needed to ensure that having given the commitment, we go for it.

We will get political kudos if we live up to our commitment. We are a very small country with a reputation for generosity. Let us not lose that. The annual sum of €150 million is meagre. Let us live up to the commitment and again become leaders.

I will address the issue often raised, namely that of capacity and whether we can cope with this commitment. Yes, we can. Clear evidence was provided to back this up. I do not have time to develop this theme but anyone interested should read the record of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, where representatives of the NGOs made it clear that saying the recipients of the money could not possibly cope with it, and that it would destroy them, is rubbish. We have that on good authority and we have an analysis of the figures, so the Minister of State should not offend our intelligence. We are well capable of reading the records mentioned.