Irish Aid may be growing by leaps and bounds, but the £112 million we disbursed last year pales into insignificance when compared to the really big aid budgets, such as the £6 billion the US gives out each year.
However, the tactic of targeting aid on a small number of the most needy states has made the Irish involvement in the "priority countries" very significant. More than £25 million was spent last year in these countries - Lesotho, Zambia, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda and Mozambique - up one-third on the 1995 figure.
But Irish aid is distributed in many different directions. Much of it goes on multilateral aid, that is aid channelled through international organisations. The EU takes more than £25 million, the UN and World Bank another £15 million. While much of this assistance is eventually spent in the developing world, the fact that so much goes on UN dues and on bankrolling highly-paid UN staff is a source of annoyance to many in the aid business, not least John O'Shea, the director of Goal.
Subscriptions to a variety of other international organisations are also paid out of the Irish Aid budget. The £90,000 due to the International Red Cross is understandable enough, but the allocation of £360,000 to the International Atomic Energy Agency, or £91,000 to the World Intellectual Property Organisation, is mystifying.
Bilateral aid, which is aid given directly to projects in the developing world, accounts for £48 million, well up on the £38 million allocated in 1995. Most of this goes on the rapidly expanding Irish Aid programme of the Department of Foreign Affairs. However, almost £7 million of the total is allocated to co-financing schemes for projects run by the relief agencies and missionaries.
Ethiopia is the biggest recipient of Irish aid - it got £7 million last year - followed by Tanzania and Zambia, which both received more than £5 million.