The Minister for Finance has the lead responsibility in Government for Ireland’s membership of the Asian Development Bank. Ireland joined the Bank in 2006, in line with the Government’s Asia Strategy to increase Ireland’s engagement in Asia. Ireland’s ‘paid-in’ subscription on joining the Bank in 2006 was €8.4 million. Ireland also contributed €1.6 million to two trust funds of the Bank, the Gender and Development Cooperation Trust Fund and the Governance Cooperation Trust Fund. All of this funding was provided from non-voted Central Fund expenditure, under the authority of the Minister for Finance. In 2011, the Minister for Finance decided that Ireland would contribute to the Bank’s Capital Increase, which involves further contributions of €8 million over ten years. In addition, since joining the Asian Development Bank, Ireland has contributed €51million from Central Fund expenditure to the Asian Development Fund which provides concessional loans and grants to the poorest countries in Asia. In 2012, Ireland, through the Department of Finance, pledged to contribute €20 million to the tenth replenishment of the Asian Development Fund, to be provided over nine years. The first instalment was provided to the Fund this month. All these contributions are counted as part of Ireland’s overall Official Development Assistance.
Ireland’s relationship with the Asian Development Bank is managed by the Department of Finance. The Bank’s operation is reviewed at its annual meeting, at which Ireland is represented by officials of the Department of Finance. There is ongoing review of the work of the Bank by its Internal Evaluation Department, which independently and systematically evaluates Bank policies, strategies and operations. This process is important in providing feedback on the effectiveness of its operations and the achievement of development outcomes. The most recent Annual Evaluation Review, for 2013, is available on the Bank’s website, at www.adb.org/site/evaluation.
The Asian Development Bank is also regularly reviewed by the Multilateral Organisation Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN), of which Ireland is one of seventeen members. MOPAN assesses the organisational effectiveness of the major multilateral organisations which its members fund. The most recent MOPAN review of the Bank’s work, in 2011, noted that it is implementing reforms to improve its organisational effectiveness, especially in relation to making transparent and predictable aid allocation decisions, presenting information on performance and monitoring external results. The Government’s new Policy for International Development, “One World, One Future”, confirms the strong focus of Ireland’s development assistance programme on some of the poorest countries and communities in sub-Saharan Africa. In line with this commitment, we will explore any potential benefits of membership of the African Development Bank, particularly in the context of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Africa Strategy, and in consultation with the Department of Finance.
