Irish Government announces huge increases in Overseas Aid

The Government today announced increases of €190 million to the overseas aid budget over the next three years. These increases will push total spending on aid close to €2 billion between 2005 and 2007. This means that the Irish aid programme will have quadrupled in size between 1997 and 2007.

Welcoming the announcement, the Minister of State for Development Cooperation and Human Rights, Mr. Conor Lenihan TD said;

“These are huge increases by any standard. A most welcome aspect is that we have now restored a multi-annual funding commitment, with increases of €60 million in 2005, and minimum level increases of €65 million each for 2006 and 2007. We and our partners, both in Ireland and developing countries, can now strategically plan on a clear and substantially growing financial base.

The increases push us closer to achieving the UN target of 0.7%.

The sheer magnitude of these increases requires that I now initiate a White Paper on Overseas Aid policy. It is in my view critical, particularly in the light of these large increases, that the Irish public has a very clear understanding of how and where Ireland’s aid budget is being spent. The White Paper process, allied to a campaign to raise public awareness of the aid programme and to extend its reach into new areas, at home and abroad, will be high on our agenda in the coming year.”



Table of Budget Increases:



Year Increases (millions) Total ODA*(millions)

2004 - € 475

2005 € 60 € 535

2006 € 65 € 600

2007 € 65 € 665


* ODA – Official Development Assistance

















Table of ODA figures for2004 – 2007 and for the preceding 10 years:



Year Total ODA (€ millions)
1994 96
1995 123
1996 142
1997 158
1998 177
1999 231
2000 254
2001 320
2002 422
2003 446
2004 475
2005 535
2006 600
2007 665



+++ENDS

18 November 2004
Press Office


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