Mr. Michael Gaffey:

Deputy Durkan asked about my visit and those of other officials, and whether we were suspicious. We are always extremely watchful and concerned when administering Irish taxpayers' money in a difficult environment. If one is working on development co-operation with the poorest communities and the poorest of countries, there is always the risk of corruption. Poverty and corruption, unfortunately, go hand in hand. Therefore, one has to take measures to mitigate the risk. One must be constantly watchful. There was an old phrase that Ronald Reagan used about disarmament: "Trust, but verify." One cannot just trust; one must also look to see where the money goes. When I was in Karamoja with our team in April, we travelled around with the member of our staff who is permanently based there and who knows the region. We met local officials. We saw progress and the building of infrastructure. We saw in the books where additional funding was coming in. We are not remotely naive, but in regard to the particular €4 million that was put into the Bank of Uganda as our contribution to the PRDP in July 2011, we were not suspicious at that stage-----