Mr. Brendan Rogers:

I was involved in setting up that programme which was a people-to-people programme. We assisted in some ways, but the impetus came from both sides of the link. Louth County Council is doing some work in Malawi and a number of institutions in Ireland have links with Vietnam. We encourage such arrangements and individual contacts. The missionaries have left these countries and we want to ensure the connection and empathy with Ireland remain, which means people connecting with each other rather than simply providing aid programmes. Dublin City Council is interested in doing similar work. I refer to the volunteering initiative for senior people to spend some time in Africa. This is what we want to encourage and facilitate.