Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Carey referred to his recent visit to Ethiopia. We will continue our operation in Tigré and will consider the regional presence of our programme in that country. We are actively considering how we can spread our aid more regionally. Tigré is our only regional involvement. As the Deputy correctly stated, the safety net project saves up to 6 million people from dying as a result of famine. It is a very successful programme, of which other donors now want to be part.

We are very strong on following up on and being concerned about human rights and other issues. We act in concert with our EU donor partners and with the Nordic plus group, of which we form a part in terms of our involvement in Addis Ababa and Ethiopia generally. Nobody has a magic answer as to how we could tidy up and make the Ethiopian Government improve its treatment of and respect for the opposition. At the recent meeting of the world's richest donor countries in Paris, the assistance committee of the OECD, this subject perplexed virtually every donor Minister who spoke. The OECD gave the simple advice to stay engaged and maximise the diplomatic pressure that can and should be applied to the Prime Minister, Mr. Meles Zenawi and his government. We will respond directly to Deputy Carey regarding the Action Aid lawyer.

I have raised the problem of unspent aid numerous times, particularly in regard to humanitarian interventions. The EU was very slow to commit money to many high-profile human disasters in 2005. We criticised this, as did some of the Nordic donors. There is a problem around the European Union quickly disbursing aid both in the humanitarian sense——

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