Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am surprised by the comments that foreign aid is a sham. In fairness to the Government, there is a mechanism of checking and cross checking all moneys allocated by the Department or the EU. Mistakes are made and sometimes things are not done in the way they are supposed to be done. As an MEP, I employed people in Brussels as research assistants, one of whom subsequently got a job supervising EU projects in Iraq and was responsible for cross-checking that the moneys for projects were properly spent. For a member to suggest there is no audit system and the funding given is going willy-nilly to governments to do what they like with it, is absolutely and totally outrageous and incorrect. It is wrong that a Member should come into the Chamber and give the impression to the general public that Departments are not ensuring that the money given are being used properly. Let me give an example, a family member works in Kenya in a school in which the pupil-teacher is 1:70 and the cost of a teacher is ¤1,200 per annum. I think that by providing ¤1,200 to a country in order to employ an extra teacher is a significant help. That is an example of the value we are getting for our money. Likewise, agencies such as Trócaire and Concern are using the aid effectively and constructively and are generating a return of ten times more than a government can deliver. This money is being used in a constructive manner. It is wrong to suggest that money is being used for the purchase of arms and ammunition and is being misused by the third country governments.