Overseas Development Aid
Mr. Gormley: The Minister said he wants some of these countries to “step up to the line” on corruption. Could he be more specific? Does he agree that it is obscene that some of these regimes are spending millions of dollars and euro on weaponry while their people are suffering deprivation?
Mr. C. Lenihan: I made those remarks on the donor countries, not the recipients.
Mr. Gormley: The recipients also need to step up to the line so perhaps the Minister could elaborate.
Mr. C. Lenihan: I agree.
(later)
Corruption is a serious problem for African countries and, as Deputy Gormley said, spending in some regimes is focussed on the military, which is inappropriate and wrong. The fact that it is often because of fear of neighbours and regional conflict is no defence. A number of years ago we, along with other like-minded donors, used pressure to prevent the government of Uganda from increasing the amount of money it spent on its defence budget. It is important to recognise that the African Union, through the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, NEPAD, process is conducting for the first time its peer review group mechanism with regard to evaluating governance, corruption, respect for human rights and law. That is a welcome beginning. The onus is not just on the recipient countries in which we operate but also on this Government to justify the programme to our taxpayers who pay for it through taxation.
Mr. M. Higgins: We should ratify the UN Convention.
Mr. C. Lenihan: There is an onus on this House and me, as Minister, to justify the programme to the people, who have justifiable concerns that perhaps our money could be misdirected, wasted or maladministered by a partner country. The Government is involved in headline budget support in very few, if any, countries. We have moved into headline budget support only in a small way. All the funding from Irish taxpayers into programme countries is ring-fenced into areas such as health, education, the fight against AIDS, capacity enhancement and governance. In Zambia we funded an anti-corruption commission. I was delighted when visiting there in December 2004 to meet the head of the commission. Since then the commission has come up with a successful prosecution in the British courts of former president Chiluba, who is alleged to have misappropriated funds belonging to the people of Zambia. Such developments are beginning to happen. In the context of the white paper there will be a greater focus on corruption and governance issues generally. When we announced our decision on the 2012 target in New York the Taoiseach indicated that four issues would be strong in the programme: corruption, food security, AIDS and bringing more private sector involvement to the programme.
Mr. Allen: What about the white paper?
Mr. C. Lenihan: I hope to publish the white paper in July, subject to the approval of the Cabinet, which will move fast on it.
(Written reply)
97. Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the progress in the decentralisation of staff from Development Co-operation Ireland to Limerick; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7106/06]
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. D. Ahern): I propose to take Questions Nos. 94, 97 and 161 together.
Under the Government’s decentralisation programme, the development co-operation directorate, DCD, of the Department of Foreign Affairs, currently based in Dublin, will decentralise to Limerick. This is scheduled to take place during the first quarter of 2007 and will involve the relocation to Limerick of 124 posts.
Already, a total of 26 posts in the directorate, including that of director general, are filled by officers who have signalled their intention to decentralise to Limerick. Nine of these officers were already serving within the Department and the remainder is made up of eleven officers who have been recruited from other Departments via the central applications facility, CAF, for Limerick, four who have been assigned from inter-departmental promotion panels and two newly-recruited officers.
In addition, there are currently 15 officers serving elsewhere in the Department, mostly abroad, who have also expressed an interest in decentralising to Limerick. These officers will be assigned to the directorate on a phased basis. The process of recruiting further staff for Limerick via the CAF is now being accelerated. The aim is that, by the second half of 2006, most posts in the directorate will be filled by staff who will decentralise to Limerick. This total of 41 represents some 33% of the posts being transferred to Limerick.
Five officers included in the above total are development specialists, of whom four were recruited since the announcement of the decentralisation programme in December 2003 and one applied via the CAF. Two senior development specialists, and a further four development specialists, who had also applied, have since withdrawn their applications. Those that did so indicated that they did not have sufficient information regarding the conditions of service that would be applicable to specialists transferring to Limerick, or to those that chose to remain in Dublin. Discussions are ongoing with representatives of the specialists, with their union IMPACT, and with the Department of Finance about the issues involved which, of course, also have a wider Civil Service dimension.