Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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113. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the reason for the delay by Irish Aid in the transfer of its grant for 2018 to an organisation (details supplied) for onward distribution to missionary organisations; the timeline by which these funds will be transferred to the grantee; his plans to ensure such a delay does not occur in future years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39108/18]

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I refer the Deputy to my recent reply to Question 122 on Tuesday 18 September 2018 in connection with the distribution of approved grants for NGOs. The organisation in question receives one of the highest annual grants of Irish Aid to a Civil Society organisation. In 2018, a total grant of €15.5m is foreseen. The first tranche of this funding, amounting to €10m, has recently been disbursed to the organisation with the balance of €5.5m to be transferred in the coming weeks. In keeping with normal Irish Aid practice for funding relationships on this scale, this year the organization in question will receive its grant in two tranches.

The organisation was established in 2004 with the assistance of my Department. It is the interface with the development work of Irish Missionary congregations, including the provision of relevant grants to missionary organisations for their work in Africa, Asia and South America in the provision of basic health and education services, sustainable livelihoods and human rights.

The organisation has 91 members (missionary organisations and lay organisations), all of which are registered in Ireland and hold charitable status.

In 2017, my Department agreed a new three year partnership linked to the implementation of the organisation’s new Strategic Plan, ‘Walking together to transform lives’, which framed a 2017 grant disbursement of €15.5m.

The organisation’s Annual Report and associated documentation for 2017 was submitted to my Department earlier this year, as part of my Department’s standard reporting requirements. The material was reviewed in line with normal procedures, following which the organisation was requested to provide further information and details of its work on the development of new results frameworks linked to its new Strategic Plan. This work seeks to aggregate the results of its different members around key themes such as education and health.

The organisation presented its work on results frameworks at a meeting held with my officials at the end of July. Following review of this additional material, the organisation’s 2018 grant was approved in line with the requirements of the new grant management system which the Department has implemented this year. This facilitated the release of the first tranche of the 2018 payment to the organisation.