Minister of State for Overseas Development and Human Rights Conor Lenihan was last night accused of being "arrogant" and talking "absolute nonsense" by Goal chief executive John O'Shea.
Mr O'Shea was responding to comments Mr Lenihan made at a briefing for journalists earlier in the day.
On the provision of aid to countries with controversial regimes such as Ethiopia and Uganda, Mr Lenihan said: "I haven't made any apology for what we've been doing there." Pointing out that 53 per cent if Ireland's aid spending was devoted to the least-developed countries in the world, Mr Lenihan added: "If one were to take the view that some people take, that we shouldn't be operating in difficult environments, we would find it very hard to operate at all in the African continent."
He added: "We don't give a blank cheque or any kind of politically-aligned cheque to the governments of those countries."
Mr Lenihan said that as a result of "diplomatic pressure" from Ireland and other European donors, "thousands" of Ethiopian opponents of the government had been released from gaol.
"If we had taken the advice, for instance, that John O'Shea was offering at the time, we wouldn't have any influence because we would have pulled out of Ethiopia, and those people would still be languishing in gaol."
Responding later, Mr O'Shea said: "It is absolute nonsense for the Minister to believe that Ireland wields any influence over either the Ethiopia or Uganda governments, and it is arrogant of him to imply that the only way of routing money to the poor of those countries is through these corrupt and brutal regimes."
During his press briefing, Mr Lenihan also commented on the current difficulties in the aid agency, Self Help Development International.
"We have been concerned for a long time, for the best part of a year now, about the open feuding and fighting, the dispute that's been going on within Self Help," he said.
He continued: "We're very anxious, as Irish Aid, to resolve the issues and we will play a proactive part in helping to resolve them.
"For the meantime we cannot continue to process the charity's application for funding under the multi-annual programme."
But he added: "That doesn't mean we're cutting off a funding source to them. "They can and they will achieve funding for those programmes on an annual year-to-year basis."
