I note with some interest the Labour Party general secretary, Mike Allen's somewhat sardonic references in last Wednesday's paper to my opinion that Fianna Fail has consistently worked for the benefit of the less well-off, for social equality and for justice in foreign affairs.

In voicing these opinions have I perhaps upset Labour's self-proclaimed monopoly on political morality? Have I upset the simple political dichotomy that Fianna Fail is all bad and that the rest are all good?

Mr Allen's thesis that the social democratic tradition in Fianna Fail is fading and that the Labour Party in turn has cornered the market in social consciousness is flawed. ("Labour are the new Fianna Fail", perhaps, as a Labour slogan for the next general election!) What Mr Allen must privately understand is that the Labour and Fianna Fail positions are not mutually exclusive - what we call republicanism is essentially an older, more historically grounded form of social democracy, and far from being on the wane, republicanism is alive and well in Fianna Fail.

Despite there being no huge philosophical divide separating us, I understand that a caring, radical Fianna Fail is a nightmare electoral threat to Labour and thus the party must adopt that position. With apologies to Mr Allen and the Labour Party then, this week I will examine overseas development.

Most people will be aware that this Government has hugely increased our overseas development aid budget. Back in October the Cabinet endorsed a multiannual budgeting process that will ensure we meet our international commitments on development aid by 2007. This entails an increase in spending from about £208 million in 2000 to £800 million in 2007. This increase in funding will enable us to make a real difference in areas of the globe desperately in need of development aid.

In response to this expanded aid budget, a review of the policies governing our aid programme is about to begin. This shall be conducted by a review group which will include, among others, independent experts, Government and non-governmental organisations' representatives. Importantly, members of the public will also be invited to make submissions. It is vital that together we get the policies right.

The needs of the developing world are huge and reaching the poorest of the poor is extraordinarily difficult and vastly more complex, however, than simply raising the requisite funding.

We need far greater efficiency and speed of response to humanitarian crises which, in very real terms, means the difference between life and death for those caught up in disaster situations. We need greater ability to aid the recovery process of victims of both natural and man-made disasters - the response of the West to Mozambique in the wake of the recent cyclone and flooding, or to Ethiopia in the wake of drought and war was inadequate.

We need to develop programmes to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS, which is a problem of mammoth proportions throughout sub-Saharan Africa in particular. In all of these areas (and there are many more) the challenge is to utilise our development aid to the greatest possible benefit of the poor.

Traditionally, the vast proportion of our aid budget went in bilateral or government-to-government aid, while another significant proportion went to support the work of the UN agencies. Whilst the UN agencies conduct undeniably beneficial work throughout the developing world, and while bilateral, country-to-country aid has also proved beneficial, I would now argue, in this International Year of the Volunteer, that our NGOs, GOAL, Concern, and Trocaire among others, should receive a greater proportion of our increasing development aid budget.

My preference for increased NGO subvention is, I believe, a practical one. One of the single greatest impediments to the basic delivery of aid to the developing world is corruption. Many think that giving aid to Third World governments is not the best way of ensuring that the poorest of the poor benefit the most.

Often, directing monies at Third World governments in the hope that a trickle-down effect will provide benefit to the needy will simply not work.

TO CITE an extreme example, I recall, as minister for foreign affairs, during a humanitarian crisis in the south of Sudan in May of 1998, having to ask our ambassador in Cairo, Mr Hugh Swift, to travel to the Sudanese capital to urge the Sudanese government to remove all conditions attached to the delivery of aid into the south of the country where people were dying. While our NGOs could effect real change on the ground once aid was allowed through, bilateral, country-to-country aid would have been pointless.

Of course we must continue to support the capacity of governmental structures in developing democracies; however, we must also recognise that in many cases NGO aid is simply more effective.

It is also worth reinforcing the point, already made by the committed Minister of State with responsibility for Overseas Development Aid, Ms Liz O'Donnell, that our own people, as taxpayers and citizens, should take ownership of our aid programme and its potential.

Most of us know a priest, a nun or a volunteer worker who has devoted a large part of their life to aiding the developing world. We are justly proud of them and the way in which they have represented Ireland abroad. Across the globe they have earned us a pride and respect which hugely outweighs our international standing in other fields.

It is vital that we enable these organisations to continue and to build upon their good work.

One of the more effective ways of doing this would be to ensure that a minimum percentage of the ODA budget is assigned to them annually through a guarantee in the Finance Act.

This could be achieved without reducing our binding commitments to international organisations and without necessarily reducing discretionary allocations, because of the increased ODA allocation over and above current expenditure limits.

I believe we should begin setting aside a specific proportion of the overall aid budget, more than the present allocation, for our NGO and missionary organisations to effectively aid the poor and to enable our people to have a greater sense of pride and participation in the aid programme.

David Andrews is a Fianna Fail TD for Dun Laoghaire