IRELAND: Former development aid minister Liz O'Donnell has called on the G8 leaders meeting this week to "feel the hand of history" on their shoulders and to work to lift the world's poor out of extreme poverty.
In a speech to an international audience in London attending the Commonwealth Business Conference, Ms O'Donnell said the G8 leaders had a power and responsibility that transcended their own jurisdictions. She called upon them to "see the scale of unmet needs in the world" and to "transcend yourselves and achieve greatness".
She acknowledged that Ireland had "suffered some slippage" in relation to its pledge in 2000 to reach the UN target of spending 0.7 per cent of GNP on Overseas Development Aid by 2007.
Nevertheless the Government had pledged to announce a new target date prior to the UN millennium summit in September. Ireland remained "a leader among developed nations in terms of our per capita and percentage of GNP contribution to overseas development aid. There is strong public and political support for this."