Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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36. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the total amount spent to date in 2013 by Irish Aid in order to reduce poverty and hunger, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where the needs are greatest and by supporting long-term development and providing humanitarian assistance in over 80 countries, on behalf of the Irish people; the total amount spent by Irish Aid through private sector companies; the total number of private sector companies in receipt of payments from Irish Aid; the total amount spent by Irish Aid through private sector companies based here; the total number of such companies; the total amount spent by Irish Aid through private sector companies not based here; the total number of such companies; and if he will provide the information in tabular form. [53644/13]

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Ireland’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget for 2013 is €622m, of which €497m is managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade under Vote 27 International Co-operation, with the remainder comprising eligible funding by other Government Departments as well as eland’s share of the EU Development Cooperation budget. A full spend against Vote 27 is anticipated for 2013. Ireland’s ODA programme, which is known as Irish Aid, is primarily delivered, at the local level, in the form of grants to and through a number of trusted partners. These include UN, EU and other multilateral and international organisations, governments in developing countries, Irish and international non-governmental organisations, public sector bodies and missionaries. The aid programme is not delivered through any private sector companies based in eland. Some specialised technical expertise or similar capacities, not available within my Department, are purchased in eland and in Partner Countries from individual experts or experts working as part of private sector companies. This includes consultancy services such as independent audit, evaluation and project management. It is anticipated that expenditure on the latter will amount to about €365,000 in 2013. Following an open and competitive tendering process, the Irish Embassy in Kampala recently directly engaged the services of a project management company to oversee all aspects of the construction of a number of schools in the remote Karamoja region of Uganda. This project, which has just commenced, will run until 2016 and has a total budget of €11.4 million.

All funding managed by Irish Aid is fully untied, meaning that it is given without any stipulation that goods or services must be purchased by the recipient country or organisation from eland or from a limited selection of sources. As would be expected, the Department’s Development Cooperation Division and the Missions in our Partner Countries make a large number of payments annually in connection with the rental and maintenance of premises and the purchase of goods and services. It would be inordinately time-consuming to compile information on the number of private sector companies that received payments from Vote 27 in 2013. A detailed statistical analysis of programme expenditure each year is contained in annual reports published on the Irish Aid website: www.irishaid.ie.