Mr. Tony Cotter:

The team will do its best to answer the questions. I will explain the history of the EDF before I deal with questions on fragmentation. Back in 1957, during the process of establishing a European Community, France and Germany were particularly anxious to have a fund for development in their extra-territorial territories. The other members states at that time which did not have such territories were not as enthusiastic, and the compromise that was arrived at was the establishment of the EDF but outside the acquis communautaire. In other words, it was an intergovernmental arrangement rather than a community arrangement. The EDF is the only EU instrument that is intergovernmental in nature. As the Deputy might know, there have been proposals in the past to bring the EDF into the community spend, but that issue will be revisited again in 2020 when the Cotonou Agreement comes up for negotiation.
The agenda for change was referred to in the context of fragmentation and this is all about the European Union focusing on a select number of priority areas in each individual country so that there is greater impact for the EU spend in those countries.
I agree with Deputy Durkan, who raised the issue of jargon in the context of EU legislation. EU legislation is somewhat like the Holy Trinity; it is a bit of a mystery. One would want to be an international lawyer to comprehend the EU legislation. In general terms, the overall objective of this legislation, which is intergovernmental in nature, is to make it compatible with EU law and to make the financial regulations instruments as similar and as close as possible to the regulations that apply to European Union funds.
The principle of differentiation will see increased resources for low-income fragile countries, which are a particular priority for Irish Aid. I am pleased to say that differentiation will mean an increase in resources under the 11th EDF allocation to least developed and low-income countries, from 79.5% under the tenth EDF to 85.3% under the 11th EDF, and a decrease in resources allocated to upper-middle-income countries from 5.3% to 2%. The 11th EDF is going in the right direction in that it is concentrating on countries with the least income and on fragile states. That is very welcome from an Irish perspective.
Accountability is very important. There is a concern on the part of all member states to ensure that there is accountability. As Deputies have pointed out, the EDF budget is very significant. In response to Senator Mullins, the budget for the six years of the tenth EDF was €22 billion. It is important that there is proper accountability for this funding. That is a matter of interest not only for Ireland but for the other member states, such as Germany, which contributes €5.2 billion to the EDF, and France, which contributes €5.4 billion to the EDF. We rely on European Union mechanisms such as the European Court of Auditors, which conducts an annual audit on the EDF to ensure the money is properly accounted for and spent in compliance with the rules and legislation.

Overall, the EDF, compared with other EU bodies, has a good record and has consistently gained an annual statement of assurance from the European Court of Auditors. The European Union has also introduced a result-oriented mechanism which essentially means it engages external evaluators to make site visits to projects, to assess and monitor the projects and report back on their efficiency and effectiveness. Also the European Union has a separate independent evaluation office which conducts evaluations of the work and projects conducted under the EDF.

The EDF is also subject to a discharge by the European Parliament on foot of the annual report of the European Court of Auditors. The European Parliament has an annual look at the European Development Fund and has an opportunity to debate and comment on the report furnished by the European Court of Auditors. Member states are also very conscious to ensure maximum value for money so far as the EDF spend is concerned. The EDF committee in Brussels regularly reviews and monitors the performance of the Commission to ensure that as far as possible the EDF fund is administered in the best way possible.

On trade generally and the impact of the EDF spend, as Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan mentioned, there are some aspects of the EDF spend which can be measured by the number of children in school, the number graduating to secondary school and the number of children leaving school. These can be directly assessed. One advantage of the EDF is the extent to which it gets involved in infrastructural projects. At one stage I had the pleasure of hosting Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan in Zambia. I will take Zambia as an example of where the EDF can have an impact but which may be more difficult to measure. Zambia is a land locked country, surrounded by nine other African countries. It has no direct access to the sea which means that its raw materials and its exports have to come by road. Air transport is too expensive. Zambia did inherit a railway system but it has fallen into disrepair.