Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 190: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the cost of the closure of APSO, including consultancies and reviews undertaken prior to its closure, and settlements to retiring staff; the number of staff who were absorbed into the Department of Foreign Affairs and the cost of their salaries on an annual basis from the closure, for each year to date in 2005; and the cost of related bodies or groups affected by the closure of APSO. [39329/05]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 191: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of persons who were placed in overseas placements by APSO for each year from 1997 to date in 2005 of its closure; the categories of such placement, long-term, short-term and so on; the type of work undertaken, for example, full-time, part-time, mentoring and so on; and the cost and the agency operation cost. [39330/05]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 190 and 191 together.

The only review which had a direct bearing on the closure of the Agency for Personal Service Overseas, APSO, was that of the Ireland Aid review committee in 2002. The committee's report recommended that APSO should be integrated into Ireland Aid, now Development Co-operation Ireland. The costs of this review are not directly attributable to the closure costs of APSO as it had a much wider remit, covering the entire Irish overseas aid programme.

The direct costs associated with the closure of APSO are set out in table 1 below. They include: the appointment of the liquidator, Grant Farrell Sparks, totalling €11,495; other related fees such as legal and audit fees amounting to €30,430; the cost of five international field staff redundancies amounting to €89,037; the cost of local field staff redundancies which amounted to €320,884 — see table 2; and the cost of surplus equipment donated to non-governmental organisations which amounted to €99,633. All direct development worker contracts were honoured until completion. There were no financial costs to funded organisations as a result of the closure of APSO. Also, no APSO headquarters staff retired at that time. The total estimated costs associated with the closure of APSO currently stands at €551,479. Eighteen former APSO staff members were absorbed into the Department of Foreign Affairs and the cost of their salaries on an annual basis in 2004 was €716,159. The allocation for 2005 was €784,281.

Table 3 indicates the number of persons who were assigned to overseas placements by APSO for each year from 1997 to the date of its closure. It includes the categories of such placement, whether long-term or short-term, the type of work undertaken and the costs involved. Further detail is available in the annual reports of APSO.

In addition to direct placements, APSO administered the personnel co-funding scheme for development workers in non-governmental organisations and missionary organisations as per table 4. Following the integration of APSO into the Department of Foreign Affairs, these personnel funding activities have been administered by my Department. In 2005, an allocation of €15 million was made to support over 1,350 development volunteers. It is anticipated that, when the company charged with liquidation has completed its work, and following the sale of all of APSO's assets, there will be a net balance of receipts over expenditure. The provisional balance currently stands at €183,051.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 192: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the agencies or bodies his Department provides funding to or is administratively responsible for, and those agencies and bodies that his Department is responsible for in respect of Government policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter [39415/05]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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There are four bodies which come under the aegis of the Department of Foreign Affairs and for which the Department provides funding, namely, the advisory board for Development Co-operation Ireland; the development education advisory committee; the board of the Ireland-United States Commission for Educational Exchange, that is, the Fulbright Commission; and the DION committee.

The advisory board of Development Co-operation Ireland works closely with that division in my Department to provide strategic direction to Ireland's development aid programme and to maximise its quality, effectiveness and accountability. The development education advisory committee offers policy advice to me, and to Development Co-operation Ireland, on development education and on ways of increasing knowledge and understanding of development issues in Ireland. The Fulbright Commission finances study, research, teaching and other educational activities between Ireland and the United States of America. Finally, the DION committee is an advisory committee to the Government on the situation of Irish emigrants in Britain.