Trócaire to pull out of four countries

WITH €7 million cuts in state funds and a €3m cut in public funding this year, aid agency Trócaire has been forced to pull out of four countries this year and to seek 27 redundancies in its Irish operations.

And within the next 18 months it will pull out of a further five countries because it can no longer afford to fund programmes.

The nine countries from which it is withdrawing are Zambia, Nigeria, Indonesia, Peru, Brazil, Tanzania, Haiti, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

Trócaire had expected to receive €23m in government funding through its Multi-Annual Programme scheme this year. Instead it received €16m. Public donations, which were €33m in 2007/2008, were just €30m in 2008/2009.

Overall the aid agency is expecting a €30m shortfall in its funding over the next three years.

“We have had to cut the number of countries because of the decline in income. It was a very difficult decision but we tried to choose the countries where we felt the damage to our programmes would be least. However, there will be serious consequences for people in all those countries,” the aid agency said.

“We are also cutting programmes in other countries where we remain. If the funding continues to drop, we will have to review the situation again.

“The impact will be felt most by the poor in the developing world, whom we have promised to help. Trócaire staff now must tell families and communities that we can’t help them any more as we don’t have enough money. Trócaire staff overseas will be impacted with at least 30 jobs at risk.”

Here in Ireland a voluntary redundancy programme will be introduced for the home-based staff from September 1 and it hopes to have reduced numbers by 27 within 18 months.

“Trócaire is urging the Government not to cut the aid budget any further in December, despite the recommendations in the Bord Snip report,” it said. “Any further cuts will have a minimal impact on Ireland’s financial stability but will have a devastating impact on the world’s poor.”

Trócaire director Justin Kilcullen said the cut in services was inevitable “in the sense that we can only spend the money we get”.

“The number of donations being made remains the same, but amounts are reducing,” he said. “Therefore we have to cut the number of countries in which we operate. If we spread our services too thinly, it reduces the service which we can offer in countries ... We have had to select countries where others can step in to fill the gap.”