Building good governance is central to the work of Irish Aid across our development programme. Without good governance, long-term sustainable development is not possible. We are promoting governance by supporting the building of more democratic systems of government, and effective, accountable institutions for service delivery. Strengthening the protection of human rights and the rule of law are also important aspects of our aid programme.
As the Deputy will appreciate, categorising governance expenditure precisely is difficult. Good governance is reflected across the programme in all sectors. It is an important element of our support to partner governments and of programmes we fund through multilateral organisations, civil society, and in emergency and recovery initiatives. The OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) coding system, however, indicates that Irish Aid expenditure on governance and civil society amounted to over €97 million in 2008, or 15% of total bilateral aid. About 40% of this expenditure was directed at supporting governance and civil society in our nine Programme Countries.
Examples of Irish Aid assistance to governance include:
Strengthening the justice sector in Uganda and Timor Leste;
Strengthening audit functions within the Government in Ethiopia;
Supporting the work of the leading anti-corruption NGO Transparency International to reduce corruption worldwide, and;
Supporting the valuable governance work of Irish and national NGOs in areas such as citizen participation, human rights protection and civic education.
Final expenditures for 2009 are not yet available, and will be reported comprehensively in the Irish Aid Annual Report 2009. However, based on current projections, it is anticipated that expenditure on governance and civil society will remain at around 15% of total bilateral aid.
As the Deputy will appreciate, I cannot provide details of the allocations for 2010. These will be finalised during the planning process over the next few weeks. Good governance is a prerequisite for reducing poverty. Irish Aid will continue to prioritise support to this important area and help to ensure effective and accountable governance in the countries in which we work.