ABSTRACT
The Irish government established its official aid programme in 1974 when the country entered the European Economic Community, now the European Union (EU). Total expenditure on official development assistance (ODA) that year, both bilateral and multilateral, was €1.9m. or 0.05 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI). In the intervening years, the ODA budget has grown significantly, reaching 0.4 per cent of GNI in 2003. In 2000, the Taoiseach (prime minister) made a solemn commitment at the UN Millennium Summit to reach the UN target of 0.7 per cent by the end of 2007 and to meet an interim target of 0.45 per cent by the end of 2002. This commitment was reiterated by the Taoiseach during his address to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in August 2002 and, most recently, in his address to the UN General Assembly in September 2003.
