Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 28 Mar 2002

Vol. 551 No. 4

Written Answers. - Overseas Development Aid.

Michael Creed

Question:

55 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the amount of money granted by his Department from the ODA budget to Romania; the specific projects to which these funds were allocated; and if he is satisfied that the moneys have been properly spent in this regard. [10723/02]

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Cowen)

Details of Ireland Aid spending over the years, including specific locations and amounts of grants allocated, are outlined in the Ireland Aid annual reports, copies of which are available in the Oireachtas Library. These reports, the latest of which is for 2000, also give a comprehensive outline of the overall sectoral and geographic focus of the aid programme. It should be noted that, under UN and OECD guidelines, grants for projects in a number of eastern European countries, including Romania, are classified as "official aid" rather than "official development assistance"; aid given by Ireland to Romania is not taken into account when calculating the total amount of ODA disbursed.

For convenience, I am forwarding separately to the Deputy the last three published reports. The Annual Report for 2001 will be published later this year. Provisional outturns for 2001 indicate that €184,112 was allocated in direct bilateral aid for projects in Romania. The breakdown of this allocation was as follows. Under the stability pact process, Ireland Aid has funded the International Organisation for Migration, IOM, counter human-trafficking programme in Romania since its inception in 2000. The programme builds on assistance provided by the international community to victims of human trafficking by providing an inter-agency referral system offering reintegration options. The programme is focused primarily on the trafficking of women and girls, many of whom are in their early teens. Ireland Aid support for this programme in 2001 amounted to €158,717.

Funding of €25,395 was approved in 2001 in support of a European Women's Foundation democracy project aimed at women in Latvia, Romania, and Moldova. The overall aim of the project is to build civil society and democracy in these countries, by bringing to groups of motivated women knowledge and skills of: building civil and political society; using the free media; the rights of citizens in a democracy; and founding and running self-help organisations.

In addition to this direct assistance, Ireland also allocates resources to a number of trust funds which operate in the region. In 2001, €431,710 was allocated to the Irish general consultancy trust fund, CTF, of the World Bank for activities in the countries of Eastern Europe and the CIS. Also, in 2001 Ireland contributed €253,948 to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, EBRD, trust fund. These funds were used to finance work by Irish consultants and firms on technical assistance, training and advisory activities and to further the economic transition process and development of the institutional infrastructure within eastern Europe.

Aid to Romania has at all times been allocated in line with Ireland Aid aims and objectives. Built-in reporting requirements for projects supported by Ireland Aid have indicated that Ireland's bilateral assistance to Romania has been effective and of a high standard.