Agencies in shock as overseas aid budget slashed by €100m

OVERSEAS aids agencies reacted with shock and horror at the €100 million cut in Ireland’s overseas aid budget announced by Brian Lenihan.

“These cuts go to the heart of Ireland’s aid programme and will without doubt lead to people losing their lives,” said Hans Zomer, director of Dóchas, the umbrella group of Ireland’s major aid agencies. “Vital programmes providing clean water, healthcare, food and support to victims of disasters will now have to be cut.”

The most trenchant criticism came from Oxfam Ireland, which called for an immediate reversal of this decision. “With this cut, our government’s promise to the world’s poorest people rings hollow. This is the fourth cut in 10 months — demonstrating that the Irish Government sees the aid budget as a soft target,” said chief executive Jim Clarken.

“These are difficult times for us all but it is not the time to abandon our commitment to tackling poverty and injustice. Ireland’s international standing will be damaged even further by this decision to turn its back on the world’s poorest when they need our assistance most,” he said.

Trocaire director Justin Kilcullen described the cuts as the worst news possible for the people who rely on that money to survive, in countries where it can be literally a matter of life and death. He said: “Together with the e95m cut in February and today’s cut of e100m, the Government has now slashed almost one fifth from the total projected aid budget for 2009. The impact these cuts will have is unacceptable and they must be reversed.”

In a joint statement, Foreign Minister Micheal Martin and the Minister of State for Overseas Development, Peter Power, said they regretted it had been necessary to reduce funding but insisted Ireland was still capable of meeting its commitment to spend 0.7% of GNP on overseas development assistance by 2012. “To have become the world’s sixth biggest donor per head in such a short period of time is an extraordinary and unparalleled achievement. If we find that we now have to pause, we should not be overly critical of ourselves,” said the statement.