Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Yes - no doubt about it. Since that time, the budget for Uganda has decreased, from €21 million in 2014 to €16.2 million in 2015. An interim programme is in place for Uganda and we are considering developing a new five-year country programme. That process is ongoing as we speak. We are taking a vigilant line in Uganda. A positive result of what happened is that there has been a strengthening of the system for the key partner countries.

On the point made by Deputy O'Sullivan, having visited some of our key partner countries and considering how much funding we divest, I fully agree with her that it would be good to meet more parliamentarians and build links with them at bilateral level, rather than just meeting people at ministerial or presidential level. Through that engagement, we would better see where the rubber hits the road in terms of the impact of the programmes within those key partner countries. I will give some energy to encouraging that. Perhaps we should take up that theme during future visits to these countries, and I hope to visit some of them in the not too distant future. The Deputy's point is valid.