Michael Mulcahy (Dublin South Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Carey for sharing time. I also welcome the White Paper, which I have read thoroughly once or twice. It contains many good ideas, several of which have already been raised. I wish to emphasise a point that has also been raised by previous speakers. Our aid expenditure will reach €1.5 billion, which constitutes an enormous amount of money, and the public will want to be reassured that it is being well spent. While the issue of corruption has been mentioned, that money must be monitored carefully and all projects must be evaluated.

I am aware of a proposal to change the title of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs to the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Irish Aid. While I am not opposed to this measure, it is inadequate. A separate Dáil committee on Irish Aid development should be established. Its sole function should be evaluating projects, deciding on policy and so on, because of the enormous sum of money involved. If this issue was incorporated into the work of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, only a portion of the latter's agenda would be devoted to it. Members must consider this carefully. The Minister of State is aware of the Sub-Committee on Development Co-Operation of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, which is chaired excellently by Senator Kitt. It does much good work and the priority should be to enhance it to place a singular focus on Ireland's development aid.

I wish to praise the work carried out by non-governmental organisations and volunteers such as Deputy Burton, who have travelled to Africa and elsewhere and have given up some years of their lives. While I have discussed this issue with the Minister of State previously, I call for an awards or recognition system for people who went to the Third World as volunteers. It is high time Ireland recognised their contribution in some form. While this might simply take the form of a certificate, the good work carried out by volunteers should be recognised formally by the State.

In addition, there should be much greater co-ordination at EU level. There is no point to having Ireland, Sweden, Germany or wherever duplicate their efforts. Such efforts should be co-ordinated, particularly in Africa, on a country by country basis to ensure the avoidance of an overlap. A sponsoring system could also be adopted in which Ireland could take particular responsibility within the EU for a single country, Germany could take another country and so on. This would lead to the development of a singular expertise regarding the country.

I also wish to raise the subject of pensions for missionaries. The Minister of State is aware of and is working on the issue. Many Irish priests who went to Africa in the 1950s and 1960s did not receive any social welfare stamps and consequently are not entitled to a pension, contributory or otherwise, from the State. I am not prepared to allow bureaucracy stand in the way of this issue for much longer. The people involved are Irish citizens and there is enough money in the kitty to give these people, many of whom are in their 70s, 80s or 90s, some form of payment for the remaining few years of their lives. Only a few hundred people are involved. It is a shame this has not been done. While EU laws may prohibit such payments, where there is a will, there is a way. I ask the Minister of State to put the issue of pensions for missionaries who have served the world and Ireland at the top of his agenda.

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