Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The issue is being dealt with and has been dealt with urgently. The first thing I stated was that the Irish contribution was suspended by the Tánaiste immediately. A full investigation has taken place. There are matters before the courts. Several people will be prosecuted on matters relating to this issue in Uganda.

I emphasise that the finding was made by the Uganda Auditor General, an office that has been funded by Ireland to ensure that it is efficient. It has been efficient at the highest level, including the Prime Minister's Department. The work we have done to improve the quality of audit and evaluation within the country at the level of the Auditor General has been very effective.

We have a strong audit and evaluation network within a unit in the Department. In addition, all Irish overseas development aid funding is audited externally. These measures are in place and there is a strong audit capacity in place already.

We have taken on board what has been said by the Committee of Public Accounts on the matter and we have taken on board the lessons learned from Uganda. Now, a full audit is under way of all our programme countries in Africa. This is the audit which will be completed by the summer. There will be a report on the situation in each of the programme countries.

I realise Deputy Crowe is involved in the Association of European Parliamentarians for Africa, AWEPA. It is valuable that parliamentarians from Ireland bring their skills to bear in parliaments in countries in Africa where, often, democracy is more fragile that it is here. This is especially valuable in terms of good governance and good practices. It would be useful if more of our parliamentarians twined with various committees and so on or visited the governments and parliamentarians there and assisted in that regard.

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