Ms Karol Balfe:

It is important to be clear about Irish Aid and the money involved. It is audited. In fact, the OECD Development Assistance Committee, DAC, does aid effectiveness reviews. As a civil society organisation, we would welcome certain changes but overall, it is very warmly welcomed as being an effective aid programme that really reaches those who are furthest behind. Having talked to civil society representatives in Africa and Latin America, it is clear that they know Ireland is a different type of donor. Our own experience with Ethiopia, where civil society is severely restricted and has been for some time, the embassy plays a really important role there in supporting civil society and supporting values like human rights and women's rights. I want to be clear that audits are conducted and that Irish Aid also has its own internal auditing. We need to be careful not to suggest that the money is going to warlords when there are systems and processes around aid effectiveness and Irish Aid's accountability.

The Senator asked about how we are coming in and engaging in our aid programmes in the context of people's engagement with the governments in those countries. Action Aid, like many other Dóchas members, takes a human-rights based approach to poverty. Part of that is about addressing the needs of those communities. When there is an extreme crisis, people are hungry and desperate and we have to meet their needs but it also about working with people and using human rights as a lens through which we say that people have a right to water or a right to education and their governments should be providing these. We work with women's groups and look at how governments are providing funding for gender-based violence shelters, for enabling girls to access education and so on. In the communities we work with, there is always an extra layer in terms of claiming rights and building social contracts in a given country.