Overseas Development Aid

92. Mr. Cuffe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will report on the Irish aid effort to Asia following the tsunami disaster; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2808/05]

Mr. Sargent: Words fail us when faced with loss of life, livelihoods and basic needs of life and culture of the scale created by the tsunami and its awful aftermath, which will continue for years. In the years to come, will we monitor the loss of life anticipated as a result of disease and many other hardships facing the areas affected?

Mr. Gormley: The Government has broken the promise it made on behalf of Ireland to the world's poor. We now know that rather than the 0.5% the Government promised only three weeks ago, on its own figures we will achieve only 0.43% by 2007, which is less than we were supposed to have achieved in 2002. At this rate Ireland will not reach the UN target of 0.7% until some time in the 2030s, far from the striking distance referred to by the Minister of State.

Mr. Sargent: This motion, supported by Fine Gael, the Labour Party and my party, the Green Party, Comhaontas Glas, should be unnecessary. In any fair-minded assessment of politics, it should be unnecessary to have to come back to a promise made solemnly on an international stage.