Why aid spending criticism is badly mistaken

The call for Ireland’s overseas aid to be spent mostly on Irish products (Letters, Feb 20) is badly mistaken.

Insisting that money given by Ireland could only be spent on Irish produce is the same as dumping our surplus into a poor country. In the case of food, that would only be to the detriment of local farmers in that country — often the very people we’re trying to help.

Rice farmers in Haiti, for example, struggled to sell their rice in their own country after the 2010 earthquake because their local markets were flooded with subsidised surplus rice from the United States. The result? More poverty, not less.

Ireland has an enviable reputation for giving aid in an “untied” fashion. This means that money is spent in a manner that encourages local farmers to grow food for the domestic market, and does not force them down to a subsistence level.

This also has the longer-term effect of improving trade relations between Ireland and the recipient countries.

Rosamond Bennett

Chief Executive

Christian Aid

Dublin