Mr. Dualta Roughneen:

I thank Mr. Gaffey. There are probably two aspects to it. One is that there is sometimes a tendency to have too many layers in overseas assistance. There can be layers between our funding flows through different entities. The example of working with UN organisations is hugely important. There is a central emergency response fund. Then there is a UN agency sometimes managing that fund and we might work with it. We go through those layers where sometimes the quicker layer might be when Irish Aid fund the international NGOs directly to do the work fairly quickly rather than funding through the UN system. It can be a challenge, it is a balance, and I appreciate that.

At CBM Ireland in our work in Kenya and Zimbabwe we work with organisations of people with disabilities that are often small groups. The challenge is sometimes around systems for accountability. If we wanted to give money to those groups, maybe €5,000 or €10,000, to do a specific piece of work the requirements for them to report to us so that we can report back to Irish Aid are identical to the requirements we would have under the Charities Regulator, as a complex organisation with systems in place for doing that. Whereas these organisations for people with disabilities would not have those systems. If something goes wrong with the money or if it goes missing or is not fully accounted for Irish Aid will come for us and ask for that money to be returned if we cannot account for it.

That can be a big challenge. It is a challenge for all donors because they have other areas of accountability that they must also respond to. I appreciate the work of the missionaries. Sometimes the best way to get the money in is to go directly but sometimes something goes wrong and then, before we knock down a wall, we have to ask why it was put up. It was usually put up for a particular reason. The problem with the overseas aid system is that small walls have been put up everywhere, over time and for different reasons. Situations evolve. Sometimes, with a step back and clarity of mind, one could put up one good wall and remove some of those layers and obstacles as well. It is sometimes very difficult to disengage from or disentangle the system we are in, which has been getting more complex over time. It is a very complex ecosystem.