Mr. Jim Clarken:

I thank the Senator and it is great to see her. Of any funding that is provided from Irish Aid through any of our agencies, we can stand over how that money is spent. We publish huge amounts of information on that. We have a lot of confidence the funding is doing what it is purported to do and wants to do. We all work beside and alongside governments in all the places in which we work. They are sometimes very strong, positive relationships. Sometimes we can do seed work and then they can amplify that work through bigger programmes. We have to work hand in glove at times but we are very much separate. There is no financial oversight by those governments on the spending we have. None whatsoever. To reassure the Senator on this point, the oversight comes from here; from the Oireachtas through the various committees and the Department of foreign affairs.