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Govt lied about extent of aid cuts

category national | miscellaneous | news report author Friday August 30, 2002 12:18author by MG

A UCD professor has discovered that the Government has been lying all along about the extent of the funds to be cut from Ireland's overseas aid budget. The Fianna Fail-Progressive Democrats cabal official line is that planned expenditure on aid will be reduced by €32m this year, but the true figure is €8 to €10m higher. This flies in the face of the Government's commitment to give 0.7% of GNP in aid to developing countries within five years...

Full story at: http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2002/0830/2387381023HMAID2.html

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Michael D
author by galway girlpublication date Fri Aug 30, 2002 17:41author address author phone

STATEMENT BY MICHAEL D HIGGINS
Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs
Friday, 30 August, 2002

DISCLOSURE THAT ODA CUT IS 10M GREATER THAN ADMITTED 'EXAMPLE OF SHOCKING GOV
DISHONESTY'

The disclosure in today's Irish Times that the cut in Ireland's Overseas
Development Aid is actually 10m greater that had been previously admitted
is another example of the shocking dishonesty of this government. They did not
tell the people in advance of the election of the cuts they were planning and
they still have not been honest with the people about the extent of the cuts
that are now taking place.
Every day more and more details are leaking out and the Taoiseach's denials that
cutbacks are taking place looks all the more pathetic.

A cut of 32m in ODA was bad enough, but to find there is another 10m involved
is really shocking. It says much about the ethics of this government that one of
the first targets of Minister McCreevey's knife are the poor and hungry of the
developing world.

This demonstrates the hypocrisy of all the statements of concern from the
Taoiseach and Minister of State, Tom Kitt, on the eve of the Johannesburg
summit.

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