Brendan Ryan (Labour)

We need a thorough debate on our overseas development aid and a decision from the Government to get back to a decent agenda and timescale for our achievement of the UN target. The Department of Finance wants to push it so far into the future that it will have plenty of opportunities to sabotage it again. We can afford to do this by 2007. We can definitely manage to do it by 2010.

I wish to echo the words of the former Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, a member of the Progressive Democrats, that this was a Government commitment which was broken by the Government. I appeal to and expect the Progressive Democrats to remind Fianna Fáil that the country has a conscience, whatever about Fianna Fáil.