Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat. I thank the Senator for tabling this Adjournment matter which is most appropriate on the 20th anniversary of the terrible genocide in Rwanda when one fifth of the country's population died. I appreciate the work undertaken there by the Senator and many others in volunteering during the difficult years following those events. Senator Healy Eames has put the case well concerning the importance of providing assistance to Rwanda. I will answer her points as best I can.

Despite the terrible legacy of the genocide, Rwanda has made impressive progress over the last decade. In fewer than ten years, as the Senator mentioned, 1 million people have been lifted out of extreme poverty. Annual economic growth has averaged 8%, which is at the higher end of countries in Africa. Many challenges persist, however, particularly youth unemployment which remains above 40% and is endemic throughout Africa.

Of course, there is the ongoing challenge of bringing justice and reconciliation to a country where it is estimated that, as I have said, one fifth of the population was killed during the genocide. Ireland has been playing its part by providing significant support to Rwanda, through the Government's overseas development programme, Irish Aid. Since 2009, Ireland has provided over €10.7 million to Rwanda through non-governmental organisations, such as Concern and Trócaire, and Irish missionaries, for programmes focusing on health, agriculture and livelihood development.

Irish Aid supports private sector investment in Rwanda through funding to the Investment Climate Facility for Africa, and the Private Infrastructure Development Group. In addition, the Revenue Commissioners are providing technical assistance to the Rwandan revenue authorities, as they are also doing in Uganda.

As regards the choice of key partner countries, Ireland currently has eight KPCs in Africa, the most recent of which is Sierra Leone. The latter country became a KPC this year. In the context of contracting resources, our approach to working at country level has been to concentrate the majority of our resources for long-term development on that small number of countries. In this way, we believe we can have a bigger impact and see real improvements on the ground for poor people and communities.

A number of criteria are in place in order to determine the choice of KPC, including the levels of poverty and inequality in the country, as well as our history of partnership and the added-value our presence would bring.

Ireland has also been active at a political level concerning Rwanda, supporting the establishment of the International Criminal Court for Rwanda, in Arusha, Tanzania, since the outset. As an EU member state, we have continued to support efforts to counter the destabilising forces in the Great Lakes region, in particular by supporting the implementation of the framework agreement for peace, security and co-operation in the Great Lakes region, signed in Addis Ababa in February 2013.

Most recently, on 1 July, the Tánaiste, speaking at an international symposium at NUI Galway on the issue of women's leadership in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Great Lakes Region reasserted this commitment and announced a contribution of €100,000 to the Women's Platform for Peace and Security in the Great Lakes Region, which is under the leadership of the former President Mary Robinson, the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General for the Great Lakes Region.

The Irish Government remains committed to working with the government and people of Rwanda, through our partnerships with NGOs and multilateral organisations, to assist them complete their recovery and move forward towards a future of peace, reconciliation and prosperity.