Irish aid agencies welcome Brown pledge
Ireland’s development NGOs today welcomed the commitment by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to introduce legislation obliging the UK government to raise spending on aid to the poorest countries to 0.7% of national income
Aid agencies have called on the Government to introduce legislation similar to that proposed today by Mr Brown, copper fastening the promise to achieve the UN target of spending 0.7% of GNP on overseas aid by 2012.
“Ireland is one of the few European countries to have slashed their aid budgets," said Hans Zomer of Dóchas, the umbrella group of Irish aid agencies.
"While countries across Europe are struggling with the global recession, only Ireland has cut its aid budget to such an extent that our promise to the world’s poorest people is starting to look like a distant prospect”
