Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

The Multi-Annual Programme Scheme, MAPS, is an Irish Aid funding scheme which helps the larger Irish non-governmental organisations, NGOs, to strengthen their development programmes and planning through flexible and predictable funding.

The five MAPS partners Concern, Trócaire, GOAL, Christian Aid and Self Help Development International, SHDI, who participated in the first phase of MAPS from 2003 to 2006, were invited to participate in a second five-year MAPS programme to run from 2007 to 2011. Irish Aid has entered into a five-year funding partnership with Concern, Christian Aid and Trócaire under our MAPS programme. Consideration of GOAL's MAPS II proposal is ongoing and a decision will be conveyed to the charity shortly. Due to the recent well publicised difficulties encountered by SHDI in relation to its governance, that organisation has been allocated €3 million for 2007. The position is being kept under review and consideration will be given later this year to a multi-annual allocation for SHDI.

Under the first MAPS scheme, from 2003 to 2005, and including the transitional year of 2006, the five partners received the following funding: Concern, €60.5 million; Trócaire, €49.1 million; GOAL, €44.7 million; Christian Aid, €7 million; and Self Help Development International, €9.9 million. Under the MAPS II scheme, 2007 to 2011, the funding for the partners already agreed will be as follows: Concern, €148 million; Trócaire €116 million; and Christian Aid, €17 million. The Department has replaced the three-year MAPS programme with a five-year programme, a change which accounts for much of the large increases apparent in the figures.

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