Poorer states depend on us

Madam — I am responding to the piece in your paper last week (Sunday Independent, December 16, 2012) by John Drennan, ‘ We must slash foreign aid by 75 per cent, says Fianna Fail senator’, which reported remarks of Senator Brian O Domhnaill that Ireland cannot afford to support the poor in developing countries, and should reduce its international development budget by 75 per cent.

Ireland gives less than half of one per cent of national income to international development, and a large proportion of that is to the international institutions such as the UN, IMF and World Bank. These are the same institutions which have provided the funds to bail us out of our current difficulties.

There is no social welfare system in very poor countries. There is no safety net for people who find themselves in adverse circumstance, unlike in Ireland, where everyone can rely on a basic standard of living.

It is disingenuous of Senator O Domhnaill to suggest that by decreasing Ireland’s international development, fewer people would die in doorways. There are several excellent Irish charities providing services for the homeless in Ireland.

Comparisons between poverty in Ireland and in the developing world, where mothers work 16 hours a day and still put their children to bed hungry with no access to healthcare, who bury children due to preventable diseases, are impossible.

Much of the work done by Irish NGOs and Irish Aid highlights corruption and hold these governments to account. If Ireland had the same level of accountability, we would have saved ourselves millions in costs from tribunals.

We would like to invite Senator O Domhnaill to our programmes in Nepal, to live the life of our beneficiaries to get a better flavour of things.

Nicky Deasy, CEO, Foundation Nepal