Global Policy Forum

By Tamar Hahn

In his address to the Millennium Summit last month, Ireland's Prime Minister Bertie Ahern went beyond lofty words and made a concrete pledge to meet the United Nations target of 0.7 percent of GNP for development aid by the end of 2007.

The commitment - which will result in a quadrupling of Irish development assistance over the next seven years - is fuelled as much by Ireland's long standing commitment to poverty alleviation as by its desire to be elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in the October 10 elections.

A year ago, when the lobbying campaign began, Ireland looked reasonably sure of winning one of the two temporary seats. The rivals were Norway and Turkey, both of which had more turns on the council. But the odds lengthened last March, when Italy belatedly threw its hat in the ring. According to The Irish Times, Ireland's foreign minister David Andrews and other members of the government were "privately furious because for a fellow EU member-country to muscle its way into the competition at this stage was not quite cricket."

Ireland's case has many merits. Conscious of their past and of how they have overcome the obstacles to build a now booming economy, the Irish are heavily involved in fighting poverty, injustice and inequality. Against a background of reductions in global ODA budgets, Ireland has steadily and substantially increased the size of its ODA program and contributions to the UN funds over the past decade. In addition, the private voluntary support of the Irish public for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Relief worldwide stands at 0.1 percent of GNP, one of the highest rates in the world.

According to the 1999 report on Ireland from the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) the Irish bilateral aid programs known as Irish Aid "is growing and is expected to continue to do so, as a reflection of Ireland's commitment to reducing poverty in developing countries, and of Ireland's place in the world." The report also mentions that after six years of impressive growth in volume and improvement in quality, most of the increase in aid in 1999 is being used for debt relief measure, EU contributions, emergency humanitarian assistance and support of refugees in Ireland.

Ireland joined the UN 1955. And, from the earliest days of its UN membership, it has made a particular contribution to peacekeeping. Since 1958 Irish personnel have served in the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe and is the third largest contributor from the Western European and Other Group of States (WEOG) to UN peacekeeping operations.

Some observers see Ireland's "Celtic Tiger" economy is an advantage as people tend to look to members of the Security Council to keep body and soul together. In addition, some believe that Ireland's role that the Belfast Agreement in Northern Ireland is a good card to play in the campaign.

Andrews told the Irish Times that he found the Gulf States and African countries "very, very positive" toward Ireland's bid to the council.

Ireland's presence for the first time as an observer at the Organization of African Unity meeting in Algiers last July proved invaluable in getting access to many African states where there in no Irish ambassador. The minister also used his attendance at the landmines conference in Mozambique in May and at a Caribbean conference earlier in the year to press the Irish case.

With only three years as a security council member and undeniable merits in the fields of peacekeeping and development aid Ireland has many good cards to play. Now it can only hope that it will also benefit from the so called Luck of the Irish.