Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being late but I was delayed. I do not want to repeat what other people have said. Perhaps these questions have been answered. What percentage of the aid received is used for education? Is there a deliberate attempt to ensure that a certain percentage of aid goes to educating people? To me that is very much part and parcel of the problem the world is facing. There is also the question of hunger but education is a huge issue in many areas in terms of lack of progress.

I visited Somalia approximately 20 years ago as a public representative. It was the most horrific scene I have ever seen in my life. I am horrified that 21 years later there is practically no improvement. I refer to the same old problems, whether religion, people grabbing power or whatever. I saw little children of three, four and five years of age and the only piece of clothing they had was a vest and the only bit of food they had was one bowl of rice per day. When I came back I said that if anybody talked to me about poverty in Ireland I would scream. The message that we, as a society, do not understand the poor standard of living in many of the countries that have not experienced a great deal of progress must be constantly and loudly and clearly made. I thank the Chairman and I would be interested to hear the views of the witnesses.