Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As I stated in reply to this and previous questions, all aid from Ireland distributed through the Ugandan Government has now been suspended, and will remain so. We are at a crossroads in our relationship with the Ugandan Government. I am pleased the auditor general identified the misappropriation of funds and that we have a commitment from the Ugandan authorities to repay in full the money that was misappropriated. I will have to reflect on the future direction of our aid programme in so far as moneys are channelled through the Ugandan Government. Before doing so, I will examine the audit and evaluation report that has been prepared.

Even if we had never had a problem with the aid programme, we would raise the issue of the legislation on gay people that is before the Ugandan Parliament. I was in Uganda during the summer and took the opportunity to raise the issue at the highest level, namely, with the President of Uganda. I expressed my concern over the legislation that was being passed. At that point, it was not clear whether the legislation would be passed or who would support it. I believe the legislation began as Private Members' legislation. As one will appreciate, a Government is not always responsible for Private Members' legislation. We raised the matter with the Ugandans and we have been keeping an eye on it. Irrespective of the direction we take with our aid programme in Uganda, we will continue to raise the human rights dimension with the Ugandan authorities.

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