STATEMENTS

WHO CARES?

Last modified on 2009-10-22 09:56:46 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

David Begg
Margaret Boden
Fran Flood
Stephen McCloskey
Alan McQuaid
The Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee
Colm O’Gorman
Micheal O’Muircheartaigh
Laura Sullivan
Heike Vornhagen
John Weakliam

Fran Flood

Director, Skillshare International Ireland

“I care because its hard to look into the eyes of children orphaned by HIV and AIDS full of questions about what tomorrow holds for them because they can’t go to school, they cannot eat neither can they receive psychosocial support because the aid has been cut. Are they doomed?”

Stephen McCloskey

Director, Centre for Global Education

“I care because Ireland’s proud record of engagement with the developing world is in serious jeopardy at a time of extreme need in poor countries.Over 100 people are forced into poverty in the developing world every minute as a result of the global financial crisis. This problem is compounded by the hike in food and fuel prices and the worsening humanitarian consequences of climate change.

Poor countries are in the frontline of these crises which means that now is the time to honour our commitment to increase overseas aid not backslide on our spending pledge. A lot more than Ireland’s international reputation is at stake if we fail poor countries now.”

 

Alan McQuaid

Chief Economist, Bloxham

“I care because no matter how bad things are here at home, they pale into insignificance compared with the pain and suffering endured in these poor economic countries.”

The Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee

There can be no additional decrease in money given to overseas aid agencies and the recommendations regarding more reductions which are made in the McCarthy report should not be implemented, the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee has said today. 

At a meeting today with the heads of Trocaire, Concern and the Chairperson of Dóchas, Committee members were informed of the stark impact the cuts in the overseas aid budget has had on their operations.

Justin Kilcullen of Trocaire told the meeting that his organisation will have to end its work in Zambia, Nigeria, Peru and Indonesia, while in Ireland alone it will have to cut twenty seven jobs. Tom Arnold from Concern informed the meeting that in total, it will have to shed five hundred jobs worldwide from its organisation because of the fall in funding. 

Earlier this year, the total budget provided for Ireland’s Overseas Development Assistance for 2009 was decreased from €891 million to €696 million. There has also been a fall in donations to charities. The Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes has suggested further savings of up to €15 million to the Irish Aid budget.

Committee Chairman, Dr Michael Woods TD said; 

“While everyone accepts that public finances are under pressure and that savings must be made, there was a unanimous view among all committee members that the overseas aid budget has already been cut to the bone and cannot sustain any further decreases. 

Some of the evidence we heard today told of how aid organisations are literally having to make life and death decisions when deciding where to curtail their services. Any additional fall in their revenue would make the situation intolerable.

The Committee also strongly denounced the suggestions in the McCarthy report to make further savings in the Irish Aid budget and calls for the recommendations to be ignored. The Committee will be bringing its concerns to the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Finance. 

Ireland had rightly earned a good reputation for aiding some of the world’s most vulnerable people and it is vital for the lives of countless around the world that this legacy is maintained.”

Colm O’Gorman

Executive Director, Amnesty International Ireland

“I care because you cannot put a price tag on human rights, on an infant’s right to make it to her first birthday without dying of a curable disease or a young man’s right not to be tortured by his own government.
The recession has allowed governments to cast crucial human rights concerns aside because the world’s attention is focused on financial markets, but the economic crisis worsens human rights violations. As global citizens we must make clear that the human right of each and every one of us to live our lives free of poverty, inequality and brutality is non-negotiable.”

Micheal O’Muircheartaigh

Sports Commentator, Teacher, Author and Patron of Just Forests

“I care because it is always worth remembering that no matter how economic conditions may deteriorate temporarily here in Ireland they are infinitely worse in the areas where Dóchas members toil.That is why the aid given is so vital for progress.”

Laura Sullivan

European Policy and Campaigns Manager, ActionAid International, 1000 Brussels

“ I care because I have to.  If I don’t, if you don’t and if the Irish government subsequently does not care, then lives will simply be lost. Whilst the current economic strife means that our socialising may be curtailed and our budgets strained, in developing countries, the impact is so much harder.  Today the economic crisis combined with the ongoing food and climate crisis is having a major impact on peoples’ability even just to feed themselves and their families.

With the Millennium Development Goals deadline of 2015 fast approaching, don’t give up now. I care because I have to.”

Why is it that a billion people, one sixth of the global population, are still living in hunger in 2009?There is a lot Ireland can do to change this situation – by investing in sustainable agriculture in developing countries and helping people to fight back against hunger and poverty; by keeping its promise to help end global poverty.

Heike Vornhagen

Co-ordinator, Galway One World Centre

“I care because we live in a comparatively rich nation that has benefited from European aid and continues to benefit from global structures that keep countries in the Global South in poverty, and therefore we have a duty to at least alleviate problems that most often can be traced back to us.We all benefit from unfair trade, migration rules, etc. – and climate change is going to have a bigger impact on people in the Global South despite it being caused to a large extend by us ‘developed’ nations. Aid is obviously not going to solve all these problems – but cutting aid would exacerbate them.

Furthermore, Irish ODA includes money being spent on development education within Ireland – this money is used to educate people about global challenges and the role we play in these. It also encourages action by Irish people within Ireland. Without this, how can we ever find solutions to global injustice and inequality?”

John Weakliam

Chief Executive, Vita

“I care because we don’t have to believe in miracles to lend a help to our less fortunate fellow man.  The tides of development and emancipation sweep endlessly across the planet, with our own Irish history as a compelling testament.  All we have to believe is that our small contribution will help to soothe the pain and smooth the development process.  The rest is down to the human will to use such resources to grasp for a better life.  Achievement of our dream of millions of better lives would be a downright miracle, but aren’t we in Ireland used to miracles?  Where we were once that will be where one day soon Africa once was.  And we will be glad that we, who have known famine and strife, were so often there with our good old-fashioned kindness and hope for our fellow man.

“I care about overseas aid because we believe in our dream of millions of better lives.

“I care about overseas aid because we believe that Ireland’s small contribution will help soothe the pain and smooth the development process for millions of others, as others did for us.”