IRELAND DOES NOT use its position at the World Bank to back developing nations, a report to be released today claims.

The “World Bank- IMF Watch” report from the campaign group Debt and Development Coalition Ireland  (DDCI) says that Ireland is “failing to act” for global debt justice.

The report says it highlights the “intense poverty” caused in developing countries by unsustainable debt payments, and the massive losses in tax revenue due to tax inversions.

DDCI Coordinator Nessa Ní Chasaide said:

“As we face into our own budget decisions, people living in developing countries are experiencing levels of debt distress similar to that of Ireland. Yet Ireland is failing to act for global debt justice. Our report, published today, demonstrates that Ireland is now siding with creditor countries at the United Nations, and has, in recent days, voted against establishing fair global solutions to sovereign debt crises.”

Morína O’ Neill, policy analyst with DDCI and author of ‘World Bank IMF Watch Ireland 2014’, commented,

“Our analysis highlights that Ireland is not using its membership of the World Bank and IMF to fight for the rights of developing countries

“The IMF is attaching increasing levels of damaging policy conditions to its loans. The World Bank is investing in high-risk, private sector led projects, such as that in the Lower Aguan Valley in Honduras, Central America, which has escalated into alarming levels of violent conflict and human rights abuses, resulting in the deaths of people in the affected communities.“

The report highlights a World Bank Group loan to Dinant Corporation in the lower Aguan Valley in Honduras for Palm Oil extraction.

They say that the loan has “contributed to highly questionable purchases by Dinant Corporation of land from peasants in the region”.

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