Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In the context of the forthcoming Irish Presidency of the European Union, the Financial Times of 18 December 2012 reported that a member of the European Court of Auditors, Karel Pinxten, issued a warning on untracked overseas aid in the European Parliament. Mr. Rogers is probably familiar with the matter. The headline read "EU warned over untracked overseas aid" and the first sentence of the article was as follows: "More than €1.6 billion in EU overseas development aid doled out to poorer countries last year cannot be properly tracked, an auditor has warned, as he demanded changes in the way the bloc awards funds." In the context of appreciating the benefit of overseas development aid, it is interesting that Mr. Pinxten is cited as stating that the risk to taxpayers outweighed the benefits of the system and that it was time for a wake-up call to member states and the European Commission. What is Ireland's role, as a member state, in contributing to the €1.6 billion in EU overseas development aid that cannot be tracked according to the European Court of Auditors? This issue should be examined as part of Ireland's Presidency. A sum of €4 million of Irish funds has been misappropriated and €1.6 billion cannot be tracked at EU level. I ask Mr. Cooney to comment.