Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The biggest negative would be if Irish people lost confidence in Irish Aid and the work it is doing. A positive outcome from today's meeting will be the message relating to the good that has been achieved in Uganda. In the 1990s, 18% of the population had HIV-Aids, but that this is now down to 6%. Some 8.3 million children are now in schools there and poverty has been halved. These are the positive stories that emerge, on the back of this negative criminal act. It will be good if the positive message goes out from here today.

I believe people want us to do things differently in the future. Mr. Rodgers spoke about investing heavily in financial tracking systems and real time access to all financial transactions, allowing vigorous control and oversight of where moneys are spent in the field. Will he expand on that? If he cannot do so today, will he get back to us with regard to the systems in place for this? The fact the misappropriation was discovered by the Office of the Auditor General in Uganda and the fact this committee and the Department had a role in training and upskilling that Department is positive. However, it also highlights the fact that many people working with Irish Aid and familiar with that area were not aware of what was happening. It is important to broadcast the fact that these systems that work and support countries are being put in place.

I do not understand what happened with regard to Denmark, Norway and Sweden. What did they do differently? What we did seems to have worked, but they have not received a written commitment with regard to their moneys. I presume their reaction was similar to ours and that they are annoyed with what happened. However, they seem to have taken a different approach. Did Ireland discuss the issue with them before the misappropriation was made public? What was the timescale with regard to this being discovered and it being made public? Was there agreement between the countries involved with regard to taking a similar approach or did Ireland go and do its own thing?

Yesterday, it was announced that Ugandan Government officials are planning to create stronger anti-homosexual laws and that they hope to pass a Bill before the end of 2012. I presume the Department is aware of this. Have concerns been raised with the Ugandan Government on this? Will this impact negatively on Irish Aid's good governance work? What will Irish Aid do differently in the future? What does it need to do differently and what does it need to watch out for?

Deputy Byrne spoke about being in Sierra Leone recently and visiting some of the projects in which Irish Aid is involved. What do delegations from this committee need to watch out for in the future? People put the responsibility on those who visit projects in these areas. Perhaps we should not just look at the success stories, but also at financial transactions and how they operate with regard to these projects. I do not know if this has happened in the past but it would be a positive result from this meeting.