ODA budget should be increased to 0.7 percent by 2025

Based on commitments made by the current Government, 0.7 percent of national income will be spent on Ireland’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) by the end of the decade. However, we are calling on the new government to speed up the process and achieve that commitment by 2025. Realising this pledge is critical to upholding Ireland’s reputation in the global donor community and delivering on the ambition of its ODA plan A Better World.

The ODA programme was allocated €837 million in Budget 2020, an increase of approximately €21 million on the amount pledged in the previous year’s budget. The funding pledged in Budget 2020 represented circa 0.41 percent of national income (Gross National Income, or GNI, is an improved measure of domestic economic activity), leaving Ireland a long way from its 0.7 percent target.

In 2018, a review of Irish Aid by the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade demonstrated cross-party support for restoring Ireland’s ODA budget and called for a multiannual plan to increase the aid budget on an incremental, phased basis.

Any increase in ODA should be complemented by a roadmap and timelines which set out the year-on-year increases to reach the 0.7 percent target. The new government should also commit to replicating the progress of other EU Member States to protect the aid budget by legislating for 0.7 percent and take steps to ensure that Irish Aid is appropriately resourced to oversee and manage these funds effectively.

Alongside quantity, the quality of aid is key, and Ireland has been recognised internationally as a donor that provides effective aid. The policy of providing untied aid and compliance with the Busan aid principles must be maintained and Ireland’s aid must continue to be used for its intended purpose to alleviate poverty and reduce vulnerability. Ireland must also advocate for the protection and integrity of aid in multilateral instruments – particularly in ongoing negotiations on the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework – and defend principled EU development cooperation that maintains integrity, accountability and a development focus.

We are asking the next government to: