Dáil debates

Wednesday, 28 May 2014

Other Questions

Overseas Development Aid

11:10 am

Photo of Brendan SmithBrendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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6. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will consider reviewing the allocation of Irish aid to countries which have oppressive anti-homosexual legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23173/14]

Photo of Brendan SmithBrendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The Ugandan President signed a law last February that imposes very tough and unacceptable penalties on homosexual acts. This legislation threatens to usher in an era of very harsh treatment of offenders and could lead to widespread oppression of gay men and lesbians, which should be totally unacceptable to the international community. The denial of basic human rights is not tolerable. Has the Minister conveyed our concerns to the Ugandan authorities in respect of this very repressive legislation?

Photo of Joe CostelloJoe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Through the Government’s development co-operation programme, Ireland is committed to providing long-term strategic assistance to nine key partner countries, eight of them in Africa. Good governance and human rights are key elements of our development programme. In addition to providing assistance to organisations promoting human rights, our embassies in our key partner countries work directly, and in co-operation with other EU member states, to engage with Governments on a range of governance and human rights issues, including the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex, LGBTI, people.

In responding to serious human rights situations, including oppressive legislation, our focus is on targeted actions that do not penalise the most vulnerable in society. We deliver aid through a range of instruments and channels to support poverty reduction, and we target our assistance to achieve progress on human rights. We also ensure that the human rights of LGBTI people are kept on the international agenda. Ireland provided substantial input to the EU guidelines on LGBTI issues during our Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2013. The Tánaiste pledged our full support to the efforts of the UN Secretary General to lead a global campaign for LGBTI rights when he addressed the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council in 2013. In my address to the Human Rights Council in March this year, I highlighted Ireland’s grave concerns at the enactment of repressive legislation in a number of countries affecting the rights of LGBTI individuals.

We will continue to work internationally and in our partner countries to promote human rights, including the rights of LGBTI people, and to support human rights organisations and institutions.

Photo of Brendan SmithBrendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I am glad he has conveyed our concerns to the Ugandan authorities in respect of this very oppressive legislation. Will he ensure that at political and official level every opportunity is taken to continue to highlight to the Ugandan authorities the unacceptable nature of this legislation and the measures contained therein? Does the Minister of State envisage a need to review the appropriation of aid from the Irish taxpayer and include the protection of human rights as part of it? Is he aware of any other countries that receive assistance from our overseas development aid programme where there is oppressive legislation in respect of homosexual acts?

Photo of Joe CostelloJoe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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President Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act, which the Ugandan Parliament passed earlier this year, into law. Shortly afterwards, a group of Ugandan citizens launched a constitutional challenge to the legislation. The Ugandan Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law has issued guidelines on the international response cautioning against linking cuts in ODA to the enactment of the Bill for fear of any backlash against the LGBTI community and the potential impact on the poorest Ugandans.

That is the situation now, but prior to the signing of this repressive legislation into law Ireland had cut off its development links on a bilateral basis with the Ugandan Government due to the fraud that had been perpetrated earlier in respect of €4 million in ODA, all of which was recouped. We do not engage with the Ugandan Government but we continue to provide aid. We have been asked by the civil society organisation, some of whose members I met last autumn, not to cut off our aid to Uganda. They said it would be counterproductive and detrimental to the poor people who receive Irish Aid, and that it would possibly result in a backlash, meaning that human rights would suffer.

Other countries have moved to cut their aid but Ireland has decided to go with the wishes of Ugandan civil society.

11:20 am

Photo of Brendan SmithBrendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. Has he had the opportunity to discuss with other donor states the reasoning for their cutting off aid? Were they not conscious, as the Minister of State seems to be, of the message from civil society in Uganda? Is the Minister of State confident that the civil society representatives whom he meets are representative of society in general and that this is not a one-sided civil society representation? Is he confident that it is a genuine civil society representative view which is given to the Minister of State and his officials?

Photo of Joe CostelloJoe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Yes, I am confident. I met a host of civil society organisations, including LGBTI representatives, when I visited Uganda. While I said that other countries had cut off aid, they have not cut off aid entirely. They have made cuts in their aid or they have suspended elements of it. This is the case for Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands. Ireland has not done so and has continued to provide aid. In our view we have taken the right path because Uganda is a very poor society to which Ireland has contributed significantly. I refer to our aid to education in the Karamoja area in the north of Uganda, which is exceedingly poor. We bypassed the government when making that contribution and it has been made to the poorest of the poor. We have also aided other projects.

On my invitation, the Auditor General of Uganda will visit Ireland. He will address the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade and will make a number of public statements. There will be an opportunity to hear from him as the officeholder who was funded. The only funding given to any agency of the Ugandan Government is given to bolster and boost the office of the Auditor General to ensure that he can continue the good work. It was this office which discovered the fraud and brought it to the Prime Minister's office. It is a strong, independent office, and we will be able to hear for ourselves the views of that officeholder.

Photo of Seán BarrettSeán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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As Deputy Broughan is not present, Question No. 7 will not be taken.

Question No. 7 replied to with Written Answers.