AID agencies and the Labour Party have reacted furiously to a virtual standstill in the funds allocated by the Department of Foreign Affairs to overseas aid.
In direct contradiction of Government commitments to increase aid, the budget allocations for assistance to Department-run programmes to aid agencies and missionaries, and for emergency relief, are being cut.
The Minister of State for Overseas Co-operation, Ms Liz O'Donnell, indicated last night that she was still hopeful of securing more aid money on Budget day next month. Last week, Ms O'Donnell suggested she might resign if she lost her battle with the Department of Finance for a significantly increased allocation.
Labour's spokeswoman on aid, Ms Joan Burton, last night suggested the Taoiseach should consider resigning for what she called "an outrageous breach of pre-election promises".
The chief executive of Concern, Mr David Begg, described the freeze as "shameful" and "much worse than we had dared fear".
UNICEF Ireland said that if current trends continued, Irish Aid would have "disappeared" by 2014.
The freeze means that Ireland's aid budget, expressed as a proportion of gross national product, is set to fall next year to its lowest level in six years. Next year's allocation is about £139 million, up £2 million on this year. In addition, the Department of Finance is contributing £14 million to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a debt redemption package for several African countries. Activists calling for debt relief criticised the package when it was announced earlier this year.
The allocation for bilateral aid is being cut from £71 million to £66 million. Most of this money goes to Irish Aid projects in six African countries, and a variety of other programmes run by aid agencies and missionary groups.
Funding for emergency relief is being cut from £6 million to £5 million. This is likely to prove highly embarrassing at a time when the disaster in Central American is focusing attention on international aid efforts. Ireland has so far donated £400,000 but Ms O'Donnell has pointed out that her budget for emergency relief this year is exhausted.
"How can any Government with even the tiniest concern for social justice cut humanitarian aid at a time when there are major crises in Central America, Sudan, Bangladesh and Central Africa?", Mr Begg asked last night.
Because the economy is expanding so quickly at present, aid expressed as a proportion of GNP is shrinking. This year's figure was supposed to be 0.31 per cent of GNP, the same as last year, but this was revised last week to 0.29 per cent. With the present figures, the allocation could fall as low as 0.25 per cent of GNP next year.
This contrasts with the Government's own target, set out in the Programme for Government, of 0.45 per cent of GNP by 2002. The Fianna Fail/PD administration inherited this commitment from the previous Government, but Mr Ahern and other senior figures had frequently reiterated their commitment to the GNPlinked target, until recently.
The equivalent United Nations target is 0.7 of GNP.
Mr Burton said the figures were a "cruel disappointment" which would undermine projects prepared years in advance. "The direct result will be less funds for schools, clinics, road-building, vaccination programmes and environmental rehabilitation," she said.
Mr Maura Quinn, director of UNICEF Ireland, said the figures appeared to show that the people of the developing world did not deserve our assistance.
Funding for the Department of Foreign Affairs is set to increase by 3 per cent next year, to £66.5 million. The allocation for North-South and Anglo-Irish co-operation is being cut from £1.5 million to £500,000.
