Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am delighted that the Minister of State, Deputy Costello, is here because his portfolio is relevant to my question. My question is simple and straightforward. I am asking the Minister of State to strongly consider including Rwanda in Irish Aid's support programme, in view of that country's critical stage of development.

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the ending of the genocide in Rwanda, a tragedy which cost approximately 800,000 lives over a 100-day period in 1994. In 2012, I was in Rwanda working on a short-term mission there with VSO, an NGO, supporting its planning and advocacy in early childhood development and education for children with special needs.

I can bear witness to the great progress which Rwanda has made over the past 20 years in terms of general development, but also in providing health, education and other services to the country's entire population.

Rwanda is a land-locked country about the size of County Tipperary with a population of 11 million. That is a lot of people in an area that size. We worked with many widows and orphans of the genocide. Some of those children lost both parents in the genocide but, with support, they went on to become heads of families themselves. There have been a number of genocides in the world but this one occurred in our lifetime, so we all remember it.

According to the UN, over 96% of children attend primary school in Rwanda and the poverty rate was reduced by an impressive 12% from 2005 to 2010-11. That implies that about 1 million people were pulled out of poverty during that period, with the sharpest declines registered in rural areas. I am pleased to hear that because I know that people experience incredible poverty in rural areas of Rwanda. When the floods come, for example, some children with extreme physical disabilities risk their lives to attend school. Some of them must slide down ravines on all fours. It is incredible what they do to get to school.

Their school benches are just wooden logs on the ground on which they sit sideways. There is such hope in the Rwandans' eyes, however; it is unbelievable. The Prime Minister, Paul Kagame, has brought a lot of discipline and has created really clean streets in Kigali, the capital. He is pulling those people up.

As we know, there are those who do not support leaders - that is not a new phenomenon in any country - but what I saw in Rwanda was extremely positive and hopeful. The country is at a critical stage of its development. I was involved in writing the UN's Rwanda development assistance plan 2013-18. The plan states that the Government made achieving its planned targets central to its development strategy. Three years ahead of 2015, the country has achieved, or was on track to achieve, all of its targets bar one. These are remarkable achievements by any standards.

Some people might criticise the idea of another country being included in Irish Aid's programme, but Rwanda should be included as part of that pie. I am not necessarily saying that more aid should be added.

There are long-standing links between Ireland and Rwanda. The former President, Mary Robinson, was the first Head of State to visit Rwanda following the 1994 genocide, thus demonstrating solidarity between our citizens and the people of Rwanda during their darkest hour. That has not been forgotten in Kigali.

Ireland has an embassy in Uganda, which also serves Rwanda. However, Irish Aid provides financial support to Uganda but not yet to Rwanda. It is worth noting that Rwanda has very low levels of corruption, so any money given would be well spent there.

We are all at different stages of development and sometimes one can make a big difference with only a small aid donation. My brief time there was probably one of the best experiences in my life. I was glad to make a contribution to an education system that was noticeable, compared to what we might achieve in another country, or even here, for the same time devoted to it.

I look forward to hearing the Minister of State's response.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | 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.

Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to hear about the various links the Minister of State has outlined. I was not familiar with all of them. I understand that his answer is "not now".

I did not mention an area where there is a real need. My husband did voluntary work there in the area of agriculture. He found that the people needed help to advance their breeds of cattle. A former ambassador from Africa told me that in the past people from African countries came here to upskill for a while in skills that they needed to take home, which was very successful. Does the Minister of State think there would be an opening for something like that in the area of agriculture?

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

While I said in my reply that we do not have a partnership with Rwanda directly, we do have partnerships with various organisations engaged in Rwanda, particularly NGOs such as Concern and Trócaire and we will continue to assist them with funds. Likewise, we have a partnership with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and we are engaged with it in various agricultural projects in several African countries, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, and to a degree in Nigeria.

A new programme will start shortly which will involve all Departments. We are seeking to engage with the Departments to see what added value each can bring. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine can bring a lot because so many Africans live in a rural and agricultural environment. The Departments of Health, Education and Skills, Justice and Equality, also have something to add. We can consider something involving cattle and seed in agricultural promotion. A decade ago we might have considered Rwanda because it was in a post-conflict situation. Our new policy, "One World, One Future" focuses on fragile post-conflict states. Rwanda has been doing very well. We have moved into Sierra Leone where there has been recent conflict, and its neighbour Liberia. They have had conflict for the past ten or 12 years. We have moved out of Lesotho which was our longest-standing partner country, at 40 years, and Timor Leste, which had conflict. We are beginning to move to a more cutting edge engagement and seeking to build up sustainable development in these countries. While we would love to be in Rwanda, wonderful progress has been made there over the past few years, despite the terrible genocide that took place.

Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

That leaves scars.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

That leaves scars and takes a long time to recover from. I will certainly consider what agricultural input we might make and how we might engage with that.

Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

That would be very useful. I thank the Minister of State.