The director of Trócaire has criticised comments made by the chief executive of another aid agency in The Irish Times.
In his article last week, John O'Shea, of Goal, criticised UN inaction over Darfur and said time was being wasted seeking the views of aid agencies while people were being brutalised and gang-raped. Troops should be called in to protect the people.
"We need to dump the meaningless platitudes and soundbites on Darfur. Stop talking about debt relief. Stop talking about trade. Stop talking about doubling aid. These are all the easy options - shameful in the context of inaction in Darfur," he wrote.
Justin Kilcullen, director of Trócaire, said yesterday it was "just irresponsible" that this kind of article was allowed to go unchallenged.
He said development agencies, the media and the Government all had a responsibility to inform the public about the complex issues involved. However, "very simplistic views" were distorting the debate in this country.
Mr Kilcullen was speaking at the publication of Trócaire's 2006 development review. In the review, he called for "an informed public debate" on corruption and governance to ensure that development aid was being well spent. "Public support for higher aid will only be sustained if people can see the impact their money is making."
The review contains articles about governance and poverty reduction. Its editor, Dr Lorna Gold, said governance could be loosely defined as transparency.
