Minister for Trade and Development Joe Costello has said that “every single penny” Ireland spends on overseas aid has to be borrowed, and interest has to be paid on it.

Nonetheless, Irish people are still supportive of the overseas aid programme, the Minister added.

While speaking at the launch of ‘1,000 Days’, a new campaign by Concern Worldwide, he referred to a recent Dóchas survey that found 79 per cent of Irish people believed it was important that the Government kept its promise to meet the UN target of allocating 0.7 per cent of gross national income to overseas aid by 2015.

This year Ireland will spend €639 million on overseas aid. He emphasised that the 0.51 per cent share of the gross national income that Ireland was giving this year in overseas aid was higher than France (0.4 per cent) or Germany (0.37 per cent).

He maintained Germany was a “long way off” in terms of its aid allocation and could do better, but added: “We are in no position to lecture them at the present time.”

The Concern campaign is focused on the first 1,000 days of a child’s beginning from pregnancy to two years old. The emphasis, in particular, will be on nutrition with research showing that problems in infancy can last a lifetime.

(H/GK)