Sir, - Your edition of January 29th, carried the shock headline "One third of Irish aid never reaches developing world", over an article which claimed that £54 million of our aid budget was spent on providing Irish experts for developing countries in 1999. If this was true it would indeed have been shocking, but it is not.
The information is apparently culled from a pull-out in the recently launched Reality of Aid report by various international non-governmental organisations, which states in relation to Ireland: "$73 million was spent on `technical cooperation' - the transfer of skills, knowhow and expertise, usually through the provision of experts from the donor country (1997 data)."
However, the OECD definition of "technical co-operation" actually refers to the full range of activities in the Irish Aid country-to-country programme including our assistance to education, health (including HIV/ Aids), agriculture, water and sanitation, roads, good governance and capacity building.
What makes the offending headline dangerously misleading, is that Ireland Aid for many years has been a leader in reducing the dependence of the programme on Irish expertise and helping to build local capacity in developing countries.
For example, in 1992 there were 70 Irish experts in the African countries with which we had co-operation agreements. Today that figure has been reduced to only 19, although expenditure on these programmes has increased six-fold since then. The actual amount to be spent on the provision of Irish experts in 2001 is £2 million.
A more correct headline should have read "85 per cent of Irish Aid goes to developing world" - and a good portion of the remaining 15 per cent goes towards training people from developing countries and on development education.
This is an exciting and unprecedented period of growth for the Irish programme of assistance to poorer countries. The programme is set to absorb a total of £3.6 billion over the period 2001 to 2007, transforming Ireland's ability to alleviate suffering and chronic poverty in the world.
In planning for and managing that aid programme, public debate is welcome and much needed - but it deserves to be properly informed. My aim as Minister is to develop a strong sense of public ownership of th aid programme, which is fully paid for by the taxpayer. A review is shortly to commence, including a public consultation process to which all will be invited to contribute. - Yours, etc.,
Liz O'Donnell, TD, Minister of State with responsibility for Overseas Development and Human Rights, Department of Foreign Affairs, Iveagh House, Dublin 2.