Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Could the Minister elaborate on the relationship between his Department and the €1.7 million to third-level institutions, universities and co-operative programmes? Does the Minister not think it is time, given the shortage of funding, that the office that was stupidly transferred to Limerick be transferred back to Dublin? That must save money. It is disturbing that with the expansion of the services, the numbers on supervising the aid that is being administered are not great. Could the Minister update us on what he did about the Uganda thievery? Was all the €3 million was returned to us? Have we reinstated any funding streams to the programmes in the Gulu province? Has anybody gone to prison as a result of the attempted fraud?

I record my sadness at the closure of the embassy in Lesotho, a most magnificent and beautiful country with which I am very familiar. I am very familiar with some of the programmes that had been initiated in Lesotho by Irish Aid, not least the cross-breeding of the Lesotho pony with the Connemara pony. The women I met in Lesotho many years ago were making the most magnificent hand-made Aran sweaters for themselves and for tourists, because it gets cold at night. The aid programme to Lesotho is very important. It was more important during the Apartheid era when it was an isolated nation. Now that the Minister is moving the embassy to South Africa, how will the relationship of the Irish Aid programme with Lesotho be carried out? Will it be carried out through the Embassy in South Africa and will that create communication difficulties for the Lesotho NGOs or government people who are handling our aid? Can the Minister confirm that the aid programme will continue, notwithstanding the closure of the embassy in Lesotho?