asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the local authorities, if any, involved in projects in developing countries or in projects located in Ireland involving nationals of developing countries, and in the case of each project (i) the nature of the project, (ii) the local authority involved, (iii) the total cost, (iv) by whom the cost is borne, (v) if the projects are being carried out on break-even, semi-commercial or commercial terms and (vi) the number of local authority employees involved in each project.
Written Answers. - Development Co-operation Projects.
343.
I have for some time been looking at the possibility of utilising the potential of the local authority sector in our development co-operation activities, and this has therefore been under examination recently by my Department, the Institute of Public Administration and the County and City Managers Association. As part of this examination, a team drawn from IPA and the County and City Managers Association visited Kenya, the Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia in July of this year, and their report is at the moment under active consideration in my Department. The total cost of this visit was £13,036.23.
I am not aware of any involvement in development co-operation, other than the above, on the part of local authorities.
344.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the Government Departments, if any, other than his Department involved in projects in developing countries or in projects located in Ireland involving nationals of developing countries, the nature of each such project, the Government Department involved, the total cost, and by whom the cost is borne, the organisation or project-holder in the developing country, if the projects are being carried out on break-even, semi-commercial or commercial terms and the number of Department employees involved in each project.
Almost all of the information sought by the Deputy, in so far as the Bilateral Aid Programme is concerned, is contained in my reply to Question No. 342 above. The outstanding information, which relates to the staff involvement, is as follows: two staff from the Department of Agriculture are employed full-time on the ground in Lesotho on the Basotho Pony Project, while four vocational teachers are involved in the full-time implementation of the secondary schools technical education diversification programme in Lesotho.
In addition to the full-time staff employed on the ground, officials of Departments are assigned, as required, on a short-term basis to projects. It would be extremely difficult and timeconsuming, however, to quantify these short-term assignments.
As far as I am aware, only one Department are involved in a project outside of the Bilateral Aid Programme. This is the Department of Labour which make an annual grant towards the International Labour Organisation Training Centre in Turin. This grant covers the cost of fellowships for students from developing countries in Africa.