Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have now got my head around the acronyms, CSP, ACP and EDF, but I do not know how the witnesses keep going. The point about aid is whether it makes a difference.

It comes down to how we measure that effectiveness. As the witnesses know, the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa, is involved with that and monitors Irish Aid in two countries. What was said about the performance review the European Commission did was a little bit alarming. It gave a general acknowledgement of the good but also referred to the difficulty of directly attributing development results and, more particularly, towards the millennium development goals. It could give the impression this money continues to go in but that we are not really sure of the effect of this money. There are goals which can be measured. For example, if we give money to educate a certain number of girls, we can go to the schools and get the results. There is a greater need to look at the effectiveness of this money. Considerable amounts of money are going into some of these countries. Does this include direct funding to governments? While the other might be more manageable to measure, sometimes the direct funding that goes to governments is not. I know there are concerns about funding and administration costs and ensuring they are within reason.

I refer to emergency funding. Looking at what is happening in the Central African Republic and in so many other places, how is that dealt with? I am glad to see I am no longer a sole voice on biofuels and tax justice.