Sir, - It would be a disservice to the generosity of the Irish people who fund the Irish Government overseas aid programme and to the Dail which approves the Budget not to challenge the false assertions made by John O'Shea (March 23rd). Not for the first time, Mr O'Shea alleges that GOAL is marginalised and deprived of resources by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
In public affairs, the truth is very important. As for the Irish Government's funding of GOAL, here it is:
GOAL's most recent published figures (1999) show that GOAL received a total of £1.54 million from the Irish taxpayer via Ireland Aid - 13.5 per cent of GOAL's total income. In addition, it received 2.37 million in funding from the European Union (Irish and EU taxpayers). So, Irish and fellow European taxpayers supported GOAL to the tune of £3.91 million in 1999.
This amount almost equalled the extra £3.96 million received by GOAL in voluntary public contributions in 1999. The public humanitarian investment in GOAL demonstrated by these contributions is far too easily dismissed by Mr O'Shea.
In 2000, contrary to Mr O'Shea's ongoing cries of "marginalisation", GOAL received a total of £2.6 million from the Irish Government - a 70 per cent increase on 1999. In March, I approved funding of GOAL programmes amounting to £639,000, bringing to £864,000 the total emergency and rehabilitation funding given to fund GOAL's work in El Salvador, India and other stricken countries so far this year.
As to the "bureaucracy" of which Mr O'Shea complains, suffice it to say no other Irish agency or NGO has a problem complying with the accountability mechanisms appropriate for the receipt of public monies on this scale.
As the overseas development assistance budget quadruples over the next six years to reach the UN target of 0.7 per cent of GNP, so too will the valued partnerships with Irish and other NGOs. GOAL's good work in the field and its reputation at home deserve a more constructive and honest public dialogue. - Yours, etc.,
Liz O'Donnell, TD, Minister of State with Special Responsibility for Overseas Development Assistance, Department of Foreign Affairs, St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2.