asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the total amount of public money paid in respect of foreign aid for each of the past five years; the percentage of GNP involved; and the corresponding figures for the most recent year for each of the member states of the EEC.

With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to circulate in the Official Report a statement giving the information requested by the Deputy.

Following is the statement:

*Estimated.

The corresponding figures for EEC member states in respect of 1979, (the most recent available) are:

The Minister said he would reply on this question to a supplementary asked on the previous question — he said he would give me the information I then sought when we reached the question now before us.

What is the question?

The Minister has a great facility for forgetting things. For the third time, the question is will the Minister agree that the overall figure of £18 million for aid is at least £7 million short of the figure recommended by his advisory council, £25 million. It is far short of the figure needed to make any progress towards attaining the target to which, supposedly, we are committed.

I have made a conscious policy decision to divert funds under this heading towards bilateral aid this year. The allocation to the bilateral aid programme this year is £4.55 million. It is intended that the bulk of this will be concentrated in positive programmes in countries like Lesotho, Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia. This allocation represents a 26 per cent increase on the 1980 out-turn, which was £3.6 million. We have lifted our bilateral aid from £3.6 million to £4.55 million, which represents an increase of 26 per cent.

Will the Minister repeat the last two figures circulated?

The percentage of GNP is 0.19. The amount is £16.22 million — that is for 1980. The previous year's figure was £13.8 million.

I want to come back to this for the fourth time, having been fobbed off. First, was the figure of £25 million the sum recommended to him by his advisory council as being appropriate for the current year? If not, what is the figure? Does he not accept that on the basis of an overall figure of £18 million this year there is a shortfall of at least £7 million?

The figure mentioned by the Deputy was the recommendation but I had to cut my cloth according to my measure, and I made a policy decision.

I wish to raise on the Adjournment the question of the adequacy of the provision this year for the repatriation of destitute Irish persons abroad.