via letterbox - Summary Of White Paper on Irish Aid

Seth Brundle

as per http://www.irishaid.gov.ie/latest_news.asp?article=973 I received a copy of the Government's booklet on Irish Aid.
As this is to be delivered to every Irish home in the coming weeks, you all should have a copy shortly.
Now, Im confused. Why do we need an information campaign (or is the conspiracy theorist in me correct in thinking this is yet another election tactic!)?
Secondly how much did this cost the taxpayer?
Thirdly, if this waste of money didn't happen would this have gone towards actual aid? If so, then can an estimate be placed on the number of poor sods who died as a result of this stunt?

mike65

Whatever one might think about the % of GNP given to overseas aid, its rising so the government has to show us all it worth it.

While a hip right-on PC place like the Politics board proberly quite likes lots of tax-payers money being spent on causes in Africa etc, many of the great unwashed resent it ("what about spending on the Irish?" etc). That and the fact many suspect money is being washed down a hole of third-world corruption.

John O'Sheas commentarys would tend to make one suspect the worst in that respect.

Mike.

DadaKopf

kbannon wrote:

Now, I'm confused. Why do we need an information campaign (or is the conspiracy theorist in me correct in thinking this is yet another election tactic!)? Secondly how much did this cost the taxpayer? Thirdly, if this waste of money didn't happen would this have gone towards actual aid? If so, then can an estimate be placed on the number of poor sods who died as a result of this stunt?

Public information is vital to democracy. Irish Aid may command a budget of over €1 billion by 2012, so it's only right that people know where it's going. This is the price of information in a democracy.

Would you say, for example, that the money spent on printing out income tax information forms, or national budget statements, is a "waste of money"? Or is it vital public information?

I don't know the answers to your questions, and I doubt anyone on Boards would. But you you already seem to have made up your mind that the whole thing is a massive "waste of money".

The timing is, of course, curious.

Working in the development sector, I'm well aware about how aspects of the White Paper (which I've read in full) have been geared towards the election. And I'm not surprised that the White Paper is being re-launched during election-time. But that shouldn't take away from the good it does. The lives of the poor in the global South aren't points on MRBI polls and shouldn't be exploited as such.

Seth Brundle

My disagreement isn't over the fact that they have produced a white paper or that the info is being made public. I disagree with the idea that every household will receive a coy of it in the coming weeks. It is not necessary to do this. If you think it is then why isn't a white paper on every item of public spending distributed to every home?

DadaKopf

Well, that's a good point. Obviously, like you and I said, it's probably an election tactic. But it's also true that the press doesn't cover development issues as much as taxes, health, education, pensions, transport, housing, finance etc. Therefore, the mainstream media is not an effective public information channel for aid as it is other spending areas.

You could argue, then, that providing information on aid this way is needed. Particularly given that Ireland may be spending €1 billion in 5 years' time,

Or this could simply be the government's justification for electioneering at the taxpayer's expense. Either way, I'd say it's a political decision rather than a civil service decision.

And in fairness, the White Paper on Irish Aid is a major document on foreign policy, just as information booklets on the Nice Treaty white paper and White Paper on Irish Foreign Policy were posted out to everyone.

So there are precedents for this.