John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)

Perhaps I could broaden the question. The Minister will be aware that many people, due in no small part to the number who have lost their jobs over the past two years, have become a great deal more interested in volunteering abroad in our programme countries for groups and organisations such as the rapid response corps and NGOs that are involved in volunteer activities in Africa and elsewhere, where we have and do not have a large presence. How successful is the Department's interaction with these groups? Should the Department become more involved with these volunteer groups? Has there been an increase in the interaction between these groups and the Department?

There are two sides to this, as I discovered since I have been involved in the aid programme. In some cases it can be a very expensive proposition to put somebody in the field. If the person has not been given the proper training, it can use up valuable resources when they arrive. I have been informed that the biggest problem in the programme countries is that it is desperately expensive to put somebody in a specialised position, be that helping a government to deal with its health programme or otherwise. We are dealing with a different issue here but a number of different groups have emerged in recent years which deal with volunteerism in our programme countries and elsewhere. Is a relationship with them evolving within the Department?

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