Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

Yesterday we witnessed with pleasure the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Kitt, signing the Dublin declaration on behalf of the European Council as president of overseas development. I request that the Leader ask the Minister of State to come back to this House to explain the criminal negligence on the part of the European Union regarding the fact that, within the European fund, $14 billion has lain idle and unused. No one has taken responsibility for it, despite the fact that it had been earmarked for overseas development to combat poverty. It is an absolute disgrace that the body has failed to take its work seriously and utilise the money to save some of the 6,000 people who die daily in Africa and south-east Asia from hunger and poverty. I ask the Minister to come here and say clearly that he, acting during our Presidency, will insist that projects are initiated and that, if no one within the European Union can administer the money, it will be given to the charities which have worked on the ground over the years rather than having them penny-pinch and beg for funds from the public at large. It is a disgrace that such a quantity of money lies idle and unused——