Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

The Revised Estimate volume published by the Department of Finance last February shows a gross allocation to Vote 29 - international co-operation - of €536 million. A further estimated €135 million is set to come from other Departments which, together with Ireland's share of the EU Development Cooperation budget, brings the total 2010 estimated allocation for Official Development Assistance to €671 million. The 2010 ODA allocation therefore involves a relatively small reduction of €25 million, or about 3%, on the 2009 level. Based on current estimates this level of funding will stabilise Ireland's ODA at 0.52% of GNP. We also expect that this level of funding will ensure we exceed our commitment as an EU Member State to spend 0.51% of GNP on ODA in 2010.

Of the total Irish Aid budget, €35.2 million is allocated to the administration subheads within Vote 29. This is 2% down from the 2009 allocation of €35.8 million. The final outturn for expenditure on administration in 2009 the total spend was in the region of €32.2 million, a saving of €3 million on the estimate. This saving was delivered through prudent management of the administrative budget. We will again make every endeavour to effect further saving on the administrative budget in 2010 as we did successfully in 2009.

The administration subheads cover the management, audit, evaluation, ongoing monitoring and administrative oversight of the aid programme, both at headquarters and in the field. The administrative budget is the key instrument for quality assurance and effective delivery of the aid programme. The allocation for these subheads is the key requirement to ensure the effective delivery of the aid programme in some of the most difficult operating environments in the world. The administrative budget is essential to ensuring proper planning, audit, monitoring and evaluation of the aid programme.

Reviews of our aid programme have placed it among the best in the world. However, the importance of overall management and evaluation capacity has been emphasised, including by the Audit Committee. Therefore it is essential, even in these difficult economic times, to ensure adequate resources to manage the aid programme to the highest levels of accountability.

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