Ann Ormonde (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State. I thank him for responding so quickly to Senators' requests for a debate on this matter.

Everybody knows the history of Irish Aid. As a child, I contributed to the black babies, which was my first introduction to such aid. Irish people have been giving money for many years in order to help the world's poorest people. Irish Aid's programmes have grown considerably in the past decade. As the Minister of State indicated, in 1997 we contributed €142 million. In 2006, that figure had risen to €814 million. Ireland is a wealthy and developed nation. We are now, more than ever, in a position to help those in greater need in some of the world's poorest countries.

As previous speakers stated, Ireland is the sixth highest aid donor per capita in the world. It is very encouraging that we have pledged to reach the United Nations' target of 0.7% of our gross national income by 2012. How will this money be spent? In that context, we should consider the programme itself and the developing countries where money is needed. There are eight to ten countries that are prioritised by Irish Aid and all of them suffer from extreme poverty. However, they are also afflicted by varying degrees of corruption, a lack of transparency, war, political instability and severe problems relating to governance. As a result of the huge increase in the money allocated by Irish Aid, it is only proper to clearly outline the Government's priorities regarding why, how and where this money is being spent. How much of it is being taken by corrupt officials?

There are core principles relating to how the money to which I refer should be administered and what programmes should be prioritised. We must first consider the stakeholders. It is extremely important that we should work with the governments and the people in the countries in question. We must develop the capacity and the accountability of those governments. We must aim to promote democracy and protect human rights.

If we are to start at the beginning, we must ask ourselves how we might eradicate poverty and hunger. I compliment the Government which has established the hunger task force, which is chaired by Joe Walsh, a former Minister for Agriculture and Food, who is extremely knowledgeable and who will be well able to steer the task force into considering ways of how we might best reduce hunger and poverty.

We must consider the causes of poor health and examine ways of strengthening the health systems in developing countries. We must also consider how to reduce child mortality and the number of women who die in childbirth and improve maternal health. Everyone is well aware that the mortality rate among baby girls in developing countries is approximately 40%. Women in these countries are not immunised, they marry early and many of their children die in infancy. It is hugely important, therefore, that Irish Aid should work with NGOs to lift communities out of poverty. Irish Aid must recognise the work of those NGOs, which have a massive impact on the lives of people throughout the developing world. I am glad the Government contributed €1 million to prevention programmes.

We must also try to achieve universal primary education in order to ensure that all boys and girls complete primary school. Joined-up thinking is needed in this regard and we must involved the stakeholders in considering how the programme relating to this matter should be monitored.

Consideration must also be given to how to combat HIV-AIDS, malaria and other diseases. More than 40 million people worldwide are living with HIV. Thanks to the emergence of ARV drugs, their quality of life has improved enormously. It is important that Irish Aid continues to ensure availability of the necessary treatments in this regard.

The environment has been adopted by Irish Aid as a priority issue, particularly in the context of access to water, safe drinking water and basic sanitation. We should focus on working within the parameters of the United Nations framework convention and the EU's plan to combat climate change. Everyone is aware of the impact climate change will have on land management activities, rural infrastructure and water management. I welcome the initiative of the Rapid Response Corps to help the victims of humanitarian disasters. The body to which I refer is comprised of people who have expertise in providing relief operations in disaster areas.

The area which must be highlighted more than ever is that relating to how trade might be developed and links made with the business world. Ireland is helping developing countries to work with institutions such as the World Trade Organisation, under the aid for trade agenda, in order to promote the development of their private sectors, which have a role to play in helping communities to escape from poverty.

I wish to highlight the work and commitment of one man whom I know personally, Niall Mellon. He developed the Niall Mellon Township Trust and many recent articles in daily newspapers praised him and highlighted how he is transforming townships for the poor. The Government has recognised this and I understand it will invest €5 million in the township trust. We have a golden opportunity to develop further private sector development in our programme countries.

As the Irish Aid programme continues to grow over the coming years, it is critical that the public is engaged with its work. I am delighted to hear about the opening of the Irish Aid volunteering and information centre on Dublin's O'Connell Street. Other such centres should be opened in cities throughout Ireland. The centre is ideal for spreading the word in schools, universities and third level institutions. We should aim to have one in every town. Why not use retired people? We do not need elaborate offices, just little holes in the wall somewhere with a person giving out information on volunteerism and relating to and lecturing students on how the programme works. We have a code of practice but young Irish people do not know this.

I know about the project in Waterford outlined by Senator Cummins which was twinned with the project in South Africa and I compliment the group responsible for it. Opportunities such as this exist. The old school method of giving aid is finished. We must examine other ways and means such as the Niall Mellon Township Trust, schools and young people who want to get involved, and joined-up thinking by the information centre and various Departments to maximise expertise to develop programmes. We must not sit back. We have a large sum of money and we must give the public ownership of it and let people know we are serious and will increase our target by 2012. We must keep showing examples and increase our standing from being the sixth largest donor.

Why have we not planned to have these centres throughout Ireland? Every summer, young students have three or four months' holidays. They would love to volunteer and, instead of spending money on other projects, have the opportunity to give back what they received from their education. Let this be a future project. We should open up the doors and let the public know its money is well spent with value for money and quality programmes established with highly respectable non-governmental organisations who know the score in these countries. The NGOs know where there are corrupt officials and how to reach out and get to the source of an issue.

We have a major project which is workable. Let us work together and let the public know we will work to ensure its money is spent wisely on good programmes which will be a success and that we will be first on the list of donor countries by 2015.