I don’t think so. Get our own problems sorted first. The third world is going to have to wait in line.

I know there’s people worse off than us. However, we are borrowing money to help them out, we don’t have any actual spare cash to give them. Moral dilemma????

I think it should be reduced even further or stopped completely. Charity begins at home and we can’t afford to keep throwing money away to corrupt African countries where there never seems to any change or improvements no matter how much money is spent.

I will give my own money away but I shouldn’t be forced to through tax. Some charities deserve more than others and how can I trust the government to decide whats what?

I agree with everything that been said we can’t support ourselves at the moment never mind anybody else we’re being taxed up to the eyeballs and can’t afford to pay out anymore !!! I volunteer overseas and I understand that the aid is badly needed but enough is enough !!

I think before we start talking about channeling more money into NGO’s we need a little more clarity on operational costs including salaries …. far too many organisations (over 70,000 !!! ) have charitable status with little if any accountability. Whilst many many of these are genuine they should have nothing to fear from greater accountability, indeed they should benefit from the shysters ( and by tgis i mean the NGO’s where over 50% of income goes in salaries, commissions and operational costs ) being shut down .

In this middle of a huge financial crisis with hundreds of thousands out of work any available aid should stop altogether and the money be invested in Ireland

Why should we help others when we are totally f****d? Charity starts at home and when we get back going then and only then should we begin to aid others

sure – the corrupt UN telling us all to hand over money again to the same countries run by the same scoundrels who run the UN

yeah right, the country is in the shit house and we need to get ourselves out of it before we hand over money to piss in the wind

Does charity not begin at home when all in this country have enough to eat and a roof over their heads then if there is something left over send it overseas !!!!!!!!!

Hi All,
Check out this report, we must suspend all aid and maybe review it after we impose certain conditions on them like collecting their own taxes !!!!!

The U.K. will give Pakistan 376 million pounds ($569 million) in aid this year.

About 856,000 of the country’s 183 million people pay tax, according to the Federal Board of Revenue. Each taxpayer contributes on average 13,673 rupees ($139).
In December, the government approved a plan to offer 3 million of Pakistan’s richest tax evaders a chance to pay a one- time 40,000-rupee penalty on undeclared income and assets of as much as 5 million rupees, in an effort to widen the tax net.

I agree that we should reduce or elimiate overseas support, however helping those in their own countries is preferable to them arriving on our shores looking for residency here – which puts enormous longterm pressure on education, social welfare, healthcare and pensions, as well as increasing demand for diminishing services.

So for that reason I would continue to provide overseas aid – ONLY if we cease immigration completely bar highly qualified individauls who are specifically needed for industry

Everybody seems to be very cynical when it comes to helping people in extreme poverty in underdeveloped countries. We forget what our ancestors suffered because of the horrific famine in the middle of the nineteen century. They suffered and died of starvation because of the cynicism and arrogant attitude of their neighbours across the sea. Borders shouldn’t matter when it comes to helping people who are suffering unimaginable hunger and disease. There’s a huge difference between suffering austerity and starvation.

I give a percentage of any money left over at the end of the year to charity, I think the government should do the same, when we make money everybody does well

Start at home first

I love how we help charities to help thoese in need abroad who then come here to say thanks but forget to leave.

If my neighbours kids were starving and I was broke I would probably use my credit card to get in some food for them. But what If I later found out that the food I bought wasn’t actually eaten by the kids, that the parents were eating the food themselves and allowing the kids to remain hungry? Would I continue to put myself further into debt the next week in the hope that my money/was going to the kids?

Charity can be harmful. It can distort the markets and prop up failed governments and systems.
Countries need to work their way out of poverty, be innovative, creative and hard working.

Getting a bit tired of the ‘Corrupt African Government’ and ‘Fighter Jet’ arguments put forward by people who are anti-aid.

Firstly, this is a dangerously racist generalisation. Secondly not all development aid goes to the continent of Africa, and thirdly not all development aid goes directly to Governments. It supports local organisations who are working day in, day out to support the poorest people in the world with services like healthcare, training, agriculture etc. Then you get the argument that ‘charity begins at home’, while you type on your smart phone filled with coltan and other materials that come from these developing countries, often mined by workers that you seem to care so little about who are forced to work in horrendous conditions. The very fact that you were able to wake up in a bed this morning, with electricity to power a laptop or phone and presumably the ability to pay for some sort of internet connection, puts you in the privileged minority of this world and it saddens me to think that so many of our population has such low regard for people in other countries.

scrap free travel for pensioners and the disabled, scrap all medical cards for the unemployed and poor,cut back on childrens allowance to people on housing lists, put a tax on water and charge the homeless a homeless tax and then we will be able to increase charitable donation abroad. why dont we just issue them all with pps numbers then we can send them the dole as well

I’d only agree with reducing or eliminating aid for the duration of our recession if the govt signed a legal contract to triple it once we can afford to. Major changes need to be made in aid distribution too- cap the enormous salaries these executives get, demand clarity on admin costs, amalgamate the overseas charities into one to achieve economies of scale, publicise better the tax breaks for individuals and companies for charitable work/ donations, focus on one area at a time and then move onto the next when that’s self sufficient (as opposed to drop feeding thousands of areas and achieving nothing) and impose troika style demands on them ( “you’ll get this aid when you have demonstrated clarity in accounts/ reduced the fighting in the area/ demonstrated real progress towards job creation etc). The current style of charity is just not working.

Many of the comments above treat development cooperation as “charity” and a luxury.
We would argue that, while difficult, Ireland must find the resources to invest in international stability and development: The prosperity of EVERYONE in Ireland depends on a stable international community with which we can trade.

Africa’s collective GDP, at $1.6 trillion in 2008, is now roughly equal to Brazil’s or Russia’s, and the continent is among the world’s most rapidly growing economic regions. Trade between Africa and the rest of the globe increased by some 200% between 2000 and 2011. A recent report estimated that publicly funded projects in 11 African countries could represent up to €12 billion worth of potential business for Irish companies.

By investing in social sectors, by tackling vulnerability to external shocks such as climate change, and by strengthening democratic oversight, overseas aid is supporting and strengthening the basic conditions for economic growth that is now transforming Africa – and from which we, in turn, will benefit.

Aid is not a luxury; it’s an investment in our own future.

Tom, I wasn’t suggesting that racism is the reason people are against foreign aid- I apologise if that’s how it sounded. I just feel that generalising an entire continent with cries of ‘Corrupt African Governments’ isn’t a fair representation of African policy makers and organisations who aren’t corrupt!