Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 March 2008
82 Deputy John Deasy asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if changes have been made to the overall auditing system of Irish Aid; if there are plans to make changes in the auditing of the Irish Aid budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10366/08]
View answerIrish Aid has in place rigorous accounting and audit controls. Audits of the Irish Aid programme are undertaken on the basis of a three year rolling work plan, managed by the evaluation and audit unit, with clear priority being given to the audit of expenditure in programme countries. The strategy embraces four separate, though very complementary, approaches: (a) work carried out directly by Irish Aid's evaluation and audit unit and by our internal auditors based at missions in programme countries; (b) work carried out by internationally reputable audit firms commissioned by Irish Aid; (c) joint donor funded audits of specific programmes, for example, of the health sector in Mozambique, where Ireland jointly funds an audit with Canada, Denmark and Switzerland; and (d) audit reports obtained from partner organisations, for example, those carried out by national audit offices and by non-governmental organisations.
Our own internal auditors, based in our missions in the programme countries, implement an audit programme which consists of the independent examination of partner organisations in receipt of Irish Aid funding. Where any issues of concern arise, senior management is alerted. Management in turn has the responsibility of providing responses to such audit queries and to follow-up on the implementation of the recommendations made.
In addition to the above, the internal auditors actively review the controls in place at our missions. The missions, moreover, are audited annually by internationally reputable audit firms.
NGO partner organisations funded by Irish Aid are subject to external audits. They are funded under the multi-annual programme scheme or the Civil Society Fund, and are required to submit their annual audited financial statements to Irish Aid.
The evaluation and audit unit also conducts its own internal audit-review work of NGO partners as part of its evaluation and audit work programme. This will be further developed in the period ahead.
In addition to those robust internal systems, the Department has an audit committee which reports to the Secretary General. It provides an independent appraisal of the Department's audit and evaluation arrangements through regular interaction with the evaluation and audit unit and senior management.
Regular reviews of the overall audit approach, audit work programmes and resources are undertaken by management to ensure that developments in audit keep abreast of the challenges posed by the expanding programme. The audit committee also reviews the overall audit approach and work plans of the evaluation and audit unit.
I refer the Minister of State to the INTRAC consultants report published last year for the Department of Foreign Affairs. It reported that any entity receiving Irish aid should have to abide by tighter contracts and tougher reporting rules.It also mentioned that many of the agencies in question, dispensing moneys given by Irish Aid, supplied only very general and sometimes inaccurate reports. This caught my eye. While many aid bodies are criticised for excessive administration costs, the consultants found that Irish Aid could operate better with more accountants and other inspection staff. While that is not a comment one would hear about the HSE, the point the consultants made was that there was not enough scrutiny of the moneys going through Irish Aid. Greater administration is needed to scrutinise the accounts.
I have given the Deputy an example of four different but complementary audits. The evaluation and audit unit has a staff of ten, headed by a principal development specialist. Of these, five work exclusively in the audit area.
There are some difficulties, for example, with grants of over €300,000. We have been working with our NGO partners to resolve some of these issues. Multilateral organisations such as the United Nations and the Red Cross have effective evaluations of their humanitarian programmes. I accept lessons can be learned and that we must work more closely with the NGOs to resolve some of the issues raised.
In January the Minister announced that we were heading towards the millennium goal target of 0.7% of gross national income. While we support this, there is growing concern that a political objective is being sought. As a result, the moneys may not be getting to the poorest. What is the Minister of State's view?
We are working with the poorest of the poor, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. We are working at the coalface and have a good audit committee and good governance. We are working to get aid to the poorest of the poor and achieve the 0.7% of gross national income target by 2012. The Minister for Foreign Affairs has written to the Chief Whip to give parliamentarians, through the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, a clearer view of the strategic workings of how we will expand the aid budget by 2012.
