Bilateral and Multilateral Aid Cuts
Quinn questioned why the Government had cut the more directly controlled bilateral programme rather than reduce multilateral commitments more heavily. Calleary said the multilateral programme had also been cut and promised to circulate figures.
Since the Minister of State has sought refuge in the argument of economic stringency, have this Government sought to renege on or reduce the multilateral commitments which are conducted in a less efficient way for recipients in the Third World than the bilateral programme? Why did the Government not retain the bilateral programme which we control and which was more efficient and, if they wanted to invoke the argument of financial stringency, renege on the extent of the multilaterial commitments? The Government have done exactly the opposite.
