Funferal

Irish govt. defend stance on ODA (again)

The Irish Minister for Finance has defended the Irish government’s decision to renege on its promise to meet the UN overseas aid target of 0.7% of GNP (following criticism by Bob Geldof). He claims Ireland will hit the target but refuses to say when. He also draws attention to the fact that Ireland is ranked 8 in terms of percentage of GNP given in aid, and to the fact that all of Ireland’s aid is not tied – that is, that we don’t insist that those receiving the aid use it to buy Irish products. Good points, but just how much Irish milk or beef would people want to spend their money on?
Apart from that he notes that we back debt relief. Very nice – but not very significant since we aren’t major creditors. It’s not like we’re putting our money where our mouth is. Now backing the elimination of harmful agriculture subsidies – that would be something to write home about….