Irish Overseas Aid and Ourselves

There had to be the eventual struggle for independence - and even then the nation was left partitioned... all typical Developing World scenarios today.

During hard times, religious leaders buoyed up the spirits of our people. So it was no wonder that the worldwide outreach of missionary and humanitarian effort from Ireland continued and blossomed after Independence . In recent decades, the brunt of this has been shared by personnel of the Irish aid agencies.

What an irony it would be if, in the 21^st century, Ireland were to abandon this solidarity with the oppressed of the world - and, instead, were to throw in its lot with the oppressor-class ethos of the rich Northern-hemisphere countries !

We in Ireland need to “join the dots” - to spot cause-and-effect connections... if drugs are flooding our streets, it is because developing-world landholders are being offered a lucrative market for the drug-base crop (landholders bankrupted when subsidy-based First World economies dumped surplus food on the world market). If individuals are seeking political asylum in Ireland , it is because the shopping-lists of local war-lords are being supplied by the Northern-hemisphere arms industry. If economic migrants are flocking to Ireland , it is ultimately because inequitable international trading rules are depressing local economies.

It is imperative that, as a nation, we bring pressure to bear at international level to ensure that every people’s right to, e.g., food, health, education, is seen as an entitlement (rather than a matter of aid handouts). We should lobby at EU level for equitable international trading rules and practice. We should work with world bodies for the abolition of agricultural subsidies. At national level, we should welcome asylum-seekers; we should ensure that the arms industry does not get a foothold; we should hold the Government to its Overseas Aid commitment.

Barbara O’Shea lectures on the UN and peacekeeping at the Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College, Dublin, and has travelled extensively whilst working for the RTE Radio programme Worlds Apart