Sir, - Can it be true, as Minister for State Liz O'Donnell has recently stated (The Irish Times June 25th), that the Irish public are "completely unaware" of the £250 million spent in their name on overseas aid?
Have we become so used to our richer-nation status that we now can "blow" £250 million at a whim in order to relieve ourselves of our obligations to those who are less well off? I for one do not think so. I do, however, believe the Irish public have become blinded by such figures and the statistics which go with them.
This apparent apathy is all the more worrying given the current review of Irish development assistance which is aiming to oversee a growth in expenditure to £800 million within the next six years. Equally worrying is the possibility that a parallel growth in bureaucracy will occur to oversee such spending.
The Minister concedes the Irish public associates development assistance with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like Trocaire, Concern and Goal...and with good cause. Such development assistance has been the core element of Irish aid since the era of missionary activity. Indeed, it was Irish missionaries who began the era of the NGO and who continue to work and promote human integral development.
Many of the priorities of the Irish aid have evolved out of work traditionally undertaken by Irish missionaries over the past 100 years and the focus essentially remains on those areas which were the missionary strengths, i.e., education, health and community development (capacity building).
During 2000 the number of Irish Catholic missionaries alone, apart from other denominations, was 2,973 working in 93 countries in Africa, Asia, Oceania, Latin America and the Caribbean. The Irish Missionary Union (IMU) represents 69 congregations of religious sisters, 35 societies of priests, nine congregations of religious brothers, 13 Irish dioceses and two lay missionary organisations.
At any given time the IMU has between 330 and 370 people co-funded by the semi-State Agency for Personnel Service Overseas (APSO), and working in 37 different countries. It is the vocational dimension to their commitment to overseas work which maintains this modern version of Ireland's missionary tradition and contributes to longer term project sustainability. In this "The Year of the Volunteer" there is a trend among some Irish agencies away from volunteering and towards bi- and multi-lateral, government-to-government aid; and yet, what is more sustainable than human skills transferred through direct contact with those in need?
In recent years tensions have developed between what can be called "professional development ethics" and "Christian development ethics" and these need to be recognised and analysed particularly given our history and the huge sums of public money involved with Ireland's aid programme. We should be vigilant that the Irish public remains firmly at the centre of decision making when any discussions on the future direction of Irish aid arises. We certainly should not lightly devolve authority into the hands of politicians or the Civil Service.
We in the Volunteer Missionary Movement (VMM) propose the current restructuring of APSO should proceed with caution and its core activity should be consolidated and expanded. APSO training department should be empowered to engage with overseas and home-based Irish organisations, including F┴S to contribute towards development education. Irish aid should develop administrative structures to maintain a "people-centred" focus for Irish development assistance.
Minister O'Donnell is currently overseeing the most significant shift in Irish overseas policy in the history of this State. I hope she ensures that decisions regarding Irish development assistance remains firmly accountable to the wishes of Irish people and sensitive to our cultural and political and spiritual history. - Yours, etc.,
Dr Vincent Kenny, Director VMM(Europe), Al Hallows College, Drumcondra, Dublin 9