Senator condemns overseas aid cut

03/02/2009

Today’s announcement by the Taoiseach that the overseas aid budget is to be cut by €95 million is ‘deplorable’, Senator Ronan Mullen said this evening. “A cut of almost 10% in the overall overseas aid budget for 2009 cannot be justified,” Senator Mullen said.

“This is the third cut in six months to the overseas development aid budget. Once again, the government has targeted the most vulnerable of the world’s people - those most in need of our help and solidarity.”

The economic crisis presents a test of our national character. The Government has set a bad example today. It is simply deplorable to include overseas aid when other cuts to consultancy bodies, advertising agencies, quangoes etc may well have been possible. We are seeing a selfishness in times of hardship to match the waste we saw during times of plenty,” Senator Mullen said. 

Senator Mullen questioned the Taoiseach’s assertion of ‘fairness and prudence’ in the Government’s approach. “While overseas aid is to be cut by €95 million, a lesser sum, €80m is to be pared from professional fees e.g. payments to the medical and legal professions. Is the Government willing to take more from the poor than from the earners of sometimes exorbitant professional fees?” he asked. 

“The individualism which contributed to our current economic difficulties is now evident in the denial of vital aid to the world’s poor during a global economic downturn. The government made a solemn commitment to meet our achievable target of 0.7% of GNP by the year 2012. Today’s cut rows endangers that commitment to the poor, the vulnerable and the disadvantaged in countries suffering even more than our own during this global crisis.

“It is not apparent from the Taoiseach’s speech that the areas trimmed in last October’s budget were re-examined in light of the increased urgency of the economic problems. He states that the new cuts will build oin the measures of last July which included a 3% payroll reduction and ‘reductions in spending on consultancies, advertising and other measures’. But the Government has failed to indicate exactly how much is currently being spent on such facilities. The cuts made at that time were certainly not made against the same backdrop of urgency and difficulty. These areas need to be examined again before targeting the world’s poor.”

“The Government should tell us who exactly is to bear the brunt of the overseas aid cut and provide us with a detailed analysis of what is proposed.”