Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Rogers and his colleagues. It is welcome that we are getting an early report on what is intolerable behaviour at official level in Uganda.

Every Minister reports the expenditure profile of his or her Department to Government on a monthly or bimonthly basis. Why did the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade not have an ongoing expenditure profile system in place when it has dealings with authorities in countries in which governance is not at the level we would wish? Mr. Rogers stated that outside firms were brought in to carry out auditing in the embassy as well as the auditing conducted by head office. There needs to be an ongoing expenditure profile system when substantial sums are involved.

Mr. Rogers outlined the progress that has been made and the return on Irish taxpayer's money. In the current circumstances this story would get substantial coverage. We face many challenges and we want to ensure the effectiveness of Irish aid. Mr. Rogers mentioned that the report will be given to the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade shortly. When does he expect that to happen? Have Irish embassy staff in Uganda ongoing contact with the other donor countries on their auditing systems? Has he concern in respect of the oversight of funding provided to NGOs and how the money is spent on different programmes in Uganda and elsewhere?