asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to decisions taken by some EC partners to substantially expand their number of personnel serving overseas in developing countries; and if he envisages similar expansion in Irish personnel as part both of our development strategy and our programme for national recovery.
Written Answers. - Personnel Serving in Developing Countries.
53.
It is assumed that the Deputy is referring to the European Volunteers Programme (EVP) which had its origin in the European Council at Fontainebleau in June 1984 when the Council, inter alia, called on its members to support measures to enable young Europeans to work together as volunteers on development projects in the third world. In November 1985 President Mitterrand and Chancellor Kohl created the EVP as a Franco-German initiative in the first place. In the meantime over 60 French and German volunteers have worked together on about 20 projects in a number of developing countries, mainly in Francophone Africa.
At the Development Council in May 1988 the French and German delegations gave an account of the "experimental phase" of the programme and invited the other member states to consider joining it.
The Government and APSO are anxious to encourage the expansion of Irish volunteer numbers while being conscious of the need to ensure that they are thoroughly prepared for their role and placed in positions where they can actively contribute to development. As the total number of Irish volunteers is relatively high as compared with other member states, it is not expected that there will be a significant increase in coming years.