Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)

I asked if the Minister for Foreign Affairs would press for a UN investigation into the misappropriation of funds. Instead the Minister spent four minutes before addressing the misappropriation of 363 tonnes of 100 dollar bills imported into Iraq since the lifting of sanctions on 22 May 2003. There is a black hole of accountability in this matter with no monitoring of spending. The administrative arm of the US and UK forces in Baghdad failed to establish a monitoring committee on the spending of the reconstruction funding. An administrative monitoring agency was only established when a further UN resolution insisted on it.

This is the largest financial fraud in the UN's history. People are dying in hospitals and on the side of the street because of the lack of services in that war-torn country. What specific actions will the Minister take to ensure an investigation into the misappropriation of this funding?

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