THE GOVERNMENT should deliver on its promise to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on overseas aid by 2015, according to a majority of respondents to a survey conducted by Ipsos MRBI.
The opinion poll, which was commissioned by Dóchas, an umbrella group of more than 40 Irish aid agencies and development NGOs, found that 81 per cent agreed it was important for Ireland’s reputation that the Government delivered on the pledge.
Those polled were also asked if Ireland had an obligation to support overseas aid despite current economic challenges. Some 84 per cent of respondents agreed it was important.
“Public support for investing in overseas aid – even in an economic downturn – continues to be strong,” said Dóchas director Hans Zomer. “This shows that people in Ireland believe in a just and fair world, and that the economic crisis shouldn’t be a reason for us to turn our back on the world’s poorest people.
“The figures remind the Government that people in Ireland feel strongly about our tradition, and our obligations towards those less fortunate than ourselves.”
The survey, which included 1,000 respondents, also found that even groups more vulnerable in the current economic climate, such as the unemployed, continue to support Government funding of overseas aid.
It also found that there is a wide gap between what Irish people think the Government spends on overseas aid and what is actually spent.
Just under 60 per cent think the Government allocates 2 per cent or more of national income to overseas aid.
This compares to the real figure of 0.54 per cent.
The average spend on overseas aid is perceived as 9.2 per cent of national income.
The poll found that 18 per cent of respondents think the Government spends 1 per cent on aid – which is closest to the actual level of expenditure and the Government’s target figure of 0.7 per cent.
Mr Zomer said the poll results bolster Dóchas’s “Act Now on 2015” campaign urging the Government to keep its aid promises.
“Ireland made promises to the world’s poorest people, and built a global reputation on the strength of those promises, and we know that that is exactly what people in Ireland want to see happen.”
Mr Zomer said: “Our survey shows that a large majority of people agree that it is essential for our reputation as a country that Ireland delivers on its aid promises.”
At the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, the then taoiseach Bertie Ahern committed Ireland to meeting the UN target for spending 0.7 per cent of national income on overseas aid by 2007.
Since then the Government has twice revised the date for achieving that goal, and now says its aim is to reach the UN target by 2015.
Ireland’s aid budget for 2010 currently totals €671 million.