Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 64: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs his plans for overseas aid funding for each of the top ten non-governmental organisation partners in 2010 and subsequent years; his views on guaranteeing that there will be no further cuts in the overseas development aid budget allocated to these organisations in the lifetime of this Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46645/09]

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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The Government's partnership with development Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and missionaries represents a very important element of the development cooperation programme administered by Irish Aid. It reflects the consistently high level of commitment demonstrated by the Irish people over the years towards helping the world's poorest people. The OECD has confirmed that Ireland channels a higher proportion of development assistance through NGOs than any other international donor. This year, we are providing over €135 million in funding to development NGOs and missionaries.

The Government will provide €671 million for Official Development Assistance in 2010. When the process of allocating the aid budget has been completed, it will include very significant levels of funding for NGOs. Each year, Irish Aid provides funding to NGOs for long term development programmes, for emergency and relief operations and for development education. The precise levels of allocations are, of course, dependent on issues such as the extent and nature of emergency and humanitarian crises which develop over the course of each year. Emergency and humanitarian funding is decided on the basis of need, and the capacity of different organisations to respond to particular crises. By its nature, therefore, the level of funding for individual NGOs will vary annually, and it is not possible to set out the top ten organisations which will receive funding over the coming years. However, over recent years the four organisations which have consistently received the most significant levels of funding have been Concern, Trócaire, Goal and Misean Cara, which channels assistance to missionaries.

I strongly believe that at a time of limited resources both Government and NGOs need to redouble our efforts to ensure that our aid programmes operate to the highest standards of quality, effectiveness and accountability. The challenge in the year ahead must be for all involved in the delivery of Ireland's aid programme to work together more effectively, to ensure that the overall Irish contribution to development has maximum impact and is rigorously focused on achieving clear results in the lives of the poor and the hungry.

Tom Sheahan (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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Question 66: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the amount of overseas development aid spent on promoting good governance in 2008 and to date in 2009; the amount budgeted for promoting good governance in 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46650/09]

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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Building good governance is central to the work of Irish Aid across our development programme. Without good governance, long-term sustainable development is not possible. We are promoting governance by supporting the building of more democratic systems of government, and effective, accountable institutions for service delivery. Strengthening the protection of human rights and the rule of law are also important aspects of our aid programme.

As the Deputy will appreciate, categorising governance expenditure precisely is difficult. Good governance is reflected across the programme in all sectors. It is an important element of our support to partner governments and of programmes we fund through multilateral organisations, civil society, and in emergency and recovery initiatives. The OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) coding system, however, indicates that Irish Aid expenditure on governance and civil society amounted to over €97 million in 2008, or 15% of total bilateral aid. About 40% of this expenditure was directed at supporting governance and civil society in our nine Programme Countries.

Examples of Irish Aid assistance to governance include:

· Strengthening the justice sector in Uganda and Timor Leste;

· Strengthening audit functions within the Government in Ethiopia;

· Supporting the work of the leading anti-corruption NGO Transparency International to reduce corruption worldwide, and;

· Supporting the valuable governance work of Irish and national NGOs in areas such as citizen participation, human rights protection and civic education.

Final expenditures for 2009 are not yet available, and will be reported comprehensively in the Irish Aid Annual Report 2009. However, based on current projections, it is anticipated that expenditure on governance and civil society will remain at around 15% of total bilateral aid.

As the Deputy will appreciate, I cannot provide details of the allocations for 2010. These will be finalised during the planning process over the next few weeks. Good governance is a prerequisite for reducing poverty. Irish Aid will continue to prioritise support to this important area and help to ensure effective and accountable governance in the countries in which we work.