The new Minister of State responsible for overseas aid, Mr Conor Lenihan, has admitted the Government will not meet its own target to increase aid spending to UN recommended levels by 2007.
Mr Lenihan, appointed Minister of State for Overseas Co-operation on Tuesday, says he aims to see that aid spending is "within striking distance" of the UN target in a few years.
As aid agencies accused him of reneging on long-standing Government commitments, Mr Lenihan denied his stance amounted to a policy U-turn.
"There has to be an element of realism here. We've had two years of retrenchment in the public finances, and this has had an effect on the aid budget. We've been blown off course a bit, and we can't pretend otherwise," Mr Lenihan said.
He described the commitment originally made by the Taoiseach to increase aid spending to 0.7 per cent of gross national product (GNP) as "a declaration of intent" rather than a promise, and said his focus would be on the goal rather than the timeframe in which it was achieved.
The decision to raise aid to the UN target level was taken at Cabinet in September 2000. Mr Ahern formally announced it to great fanfare at the UN Millennium summit in New York. He restated the commitment at another UN summit in Johannesburg in 2002 and again at the UN General Assembly last year. It also appears in the Programme for Government.
But after big jumps in aid spending in 2001 and 2002, the increases slowed considerably in the past two years. An interim target of 0.45 per cent of GNP set for the end of 2002 was never reached.
While the overall amount has continued to increase in volume terms - estimated spending this year will be €475 million - aid as a proportion of GNP has dropped from 0.41 per cent in 2002 to 0.40 per cent in 2003 and 0.39 per cent this year.
