The Government has made "a firm decision" to meet United Nations overseas development aid (ODA) targets by 2007, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern has said, though he passed on the opportunity to guarantee that it will.
"I have made a firm decision that we will do everything we can to achieve 0.7 per cent and that is where we still are. We have put so much resources into this. We are going to continue to do that," said Mr Ahern, speaking in Bodenstown, Co Kildare.
The commitment that Ireland would reach the UN target was publicly made in 2000 by the Taoiseach in a speech to the UN.
"It is important for this country for the lead that we have given. We are seen and respected across the world as a small developed country that has given the lead on this issue."
Last week, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, and the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr Conor Lenihan, expressed doubts that the target could be met.
After his speech at Fianna Fáil annual Wolfe Tone commemoration, Mr Ahern said some quarters wanted to tie Irish aid to trade. Other countries did so, "some often cynically. We don't do that. I know that there are many people here who think that we should do that".
He said the ODA target was particularly difficult for the Government to honour because of the Republic's rapid rate of growth.
"The Irish economy is growing so fast that every time it grows it makes it more difficult to get there in money terms," he told The Irish Times.
However, Fine Gael MEP Ms Maireád McGuinness said the Government's failure to "unequivocally" stand by the Taoiseach's UN pledge was "shameful".
Ireland's percentage contribution has actually dropped Mr Ahern's promise to 0.4 per cent. "This raises huge issues of political credibility, both domestically and internationally," she said.
