Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when the report from the Irish Aid delegation that visited Uganda to investigate the misappropriation of Irish Aid funds will be completed; and if he will make it public. [50341/12]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I am deeply concerned about the recent misappropriation of Irish development funding in Uganda. Ireland has no tolerance for fraud or any other form of financial irregularity in our development co-operation programme. This is clearly known to all of our development partners, including the Government of Uganda. I have suspended approximately €16 million of Irish development assistance which was due to be channelled through Government of Uganda systems in 2012 and initiated an immediate investigation into the misappropriation of funds by individuals in the office of the Prime Minister of Uganda. This investigation has been undertaken by a team from the evaluation and audit unit of my Department which travelled to Uganda as soon as the findings of the Auditor General of Uganda were made public. The team’s report will be presented to me shortly and I will closely examine it and give due consideration to any recommendation made. I will release the report when it is finalised.

In addition to the team from my Department’s audit and evaluation unit, the director general of Irish Aid also travelled to Uganda. Together with our ambassador in Kampala, he met the Prime Minister, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Finance and Economic Development of Uganda to underline my deep concerns and insist on the misappropriated funds being restored by the Ugandan authorities. As a direct result of this intervention, the Ugandan Government has since confirmed that all Irish Aid misappropriated funds will be reimbursed; that the officials against whom financial impropriety has been established will be fully prosecuted; and that measures will be undertaken to tighten their internal controls. I welcome this commitment and have directed our ambassador to work with the Ugandan authorities to ensure the misappropriated funds are restored.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Before I call Deputy Seán Crowe, a mobile phone is causing interference with the sound recording. I ask anyone with a mobile phone to switch it off.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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I share the Minister's concern on this issue. My question was submitted some time ago and I know the issue has been well ventilated in recent days at the meetings of the Oireachtas Committee Joint on Foreign Affairs on Trade and the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Union Affairs and in statements made by the Minister. I share his concern about the misappropriation of €4 million in aid funding. My main concern is the impact this will have on the confidence of taxpayers in the provision of Irish aid. The Minister has come out strongly on this issue and the fact that the Auditor General of Uganda picked up on the misappropriation of funds is positive. Therefore, there is a positive side to the story. The incident shines a light on the work of Irish Aid in Uganda and the fact that in recent years the level of poverty has been halved and the incidence of HIV-AIDS has been reduced from 18% to 6%. Positive things are happening owing to the efforts of development agencies such as Irish Aid and others. Some groups will argue that this aid should not have passed through government channels but through NGOs. However, it was the Auditor General of Uganda who discovered the misappropriation, which is a positive argument for ensuring aid is channelled through the Ugandan Government. Reassurance is required. Yesterday I suggested at the committee that Irish Aid facilitate access to information from auditors in the Department and provide documentation on the issue. It is important that we examine the scheme in place for the delivery of the aid. Are there lessons we can learn from this incident? People want to hear that it will not happen again and structures must be put in place to minimise this possibility.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I thank the Deputy for his support in this matter. It is important to remember that the misappropriation of funds was discovered by the Auditor General of Uganda. We take reassurance from this because our aid programme has been working to support institutions such as the Office of the Auditor General of Uganda. Therefore, the system worked. Second, we should remember that not only Irish aid moneys were involved. Aid moneys from Norway, Denmark and Sweden was also misappropriated. I also understand some Ugandan moneys were misappropriated. The misappropriation occurred in the case of moneys channelled through the Prime Minister's office. As soon as we had received the report of the Auditor General of Uganda and become aware of the misappropriation, we acted on the report. We suspended all aid channelled through the Ugandan Government and it remains suspended. We sent our audit and evaluation team which has now made its report to us. We sent the director general of Irish Aid who, together with our ambassador in Kampala, went to see all of the senior people in Uganda. We have now received a written commitment from the Ugandan Government that the aid which was misappropriated will be reimbursed in full. All of this has taken place within a very short period. This is Irish taxpayer's money and taxpayers can be reassured that the system of the Auditor General of Uganda worked and that our audit and evaluation system has also worked. We acted on the report immediately and the money is to be reimbursed. In the meantime, aid moneys for Uganda will remain suspended. When the audit and evaluation team's report, now with the Secretary General of my Department, comes to me, I will make it available and deal with the issue in an open way.