Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern has said the Government will not be rushed into setting a new target date for achieving the UN goal of giving 0.7% of GNP in overseas aid.
He was speaking during a Dáil debate this evening, on a Green Party motion calling on the Government to help make poverty history.
The motion addresses a wide range of issues - debt cancellation; the arms trade; climate change; fair trade; and with the Government's now abandoned goal of reaching the UN's target for overseas aid of 0.7% by 2007.
Mr Ahern said that Ireland gives more in aid than any of the G8 countries, and recommitted himself to the 0.7% target, saying the Government would decide on a new target date before the UN Millennium Summit in mid-September.
However, with the Dáil rising for the summer on Friday, the new commitment will not be debated in Leinster House before it is delivered.
The debate comes at the start of a week of events surrounding world poverty. A major protest march is planned for Dublin city centre this Thursday evening.
The Live 8 concerts take place on Saturday.
At the G8 summit this weekend, leaders of the world's most powerful economies will be challenged finally to make poverty history.
