Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 April 2014
71. Deputy Dominic Hannigan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if an update is available from the recent assessment team that was in Burma on behalf of his Department; the recommendations the group made; if the recommendations are being followed up; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16695/14]
View answerFrom 30 June-6 July 2013 officials from my Department undertook a scoping visit to Myanmar/Burma. The purpose of the mission was to assess developments in the country, and examine how Irish Aid could develop an assistance programme for Myanmar/Burma. The visit encompassed a wide range of meetings with political, business, diplomatic and civil society contacts. The range of meetings allowed a broad assessment of developments in the country, and – in addition to identifying key elements of a possible aid programme – the opportunity to identify potential avenues to improve trade, investment and other links between Ireland and Myanmar/Burma.
The Delegation visited Yangon, Nay Pyi Taw and Kachin, and met three Ministers, the National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Heads of Mission and development specialists from EU and other countries, representatives of multilateral organisations, high-level business contacts, and a wide range of civil society organisations.
On foot of the scoping visit – as well as several visits by Ireland’s Ambassador to Myanmar (based in Hanoi), and suggestions made to me by Aung San Suu Kyi during meetings with her last year including at the EU Foreign Affairs Council in October 2013 – I agreed funding of €500,000 for a bilateral development assistance programme in Myanmar/Burma in 2013. This bilateral programme of support, which will be managed from the Embassy in Hanoi, is aligned with Ireland's new policy for development 'One World – One future' and with the Department’s current country strategy in Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao PDR.
The programme itself is designed to maximise our interventions and resources and will support improved livelihoods for poor rural people; the development of the agriculture sector; the peace process - by developing mine risk education and awareness of unexploded ordnance among local civil society groups; and the development of responsible business practice and transparency. The same level of funding has also been agreed for 2014. I have tasked officials to undertake further work on how Ireland can assist in the area of trade promotion, capacity building and education scholarships with a view to developing a more strategic bilateral programme from 2014.
This programme is in addition to Irish Aid support to civil society organisations for development and humanitarian interventions in Myanmar/Burma which totalled just over €2.9 million between 2011 and 2013. This includes €1.325 million provided to Trócaire in 2013 for development interventions focused on governance, human rights and gender equality, and humanitarian projects, including in Kachin and Shan states. Irish Aid also provided USD 200,000 for the provision of AIDS treatment and a continuum of care to People Living with HIV in Myanmar in 2009-2011 through UNAIDS and implemented by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, Ratana Metta (a local NGO) and the World Food Programme.
I am considering additional support also for humanitarian responses in Myanmar/Burma in 2014 through Irish Aid's humanitarian programme. A humanitarian visit and assessment by Ireland, as part of a wider UNHCR visit in the latter part of 2013, found that the ongoing humanitarian emergency in Rakhine state presents the most pressing humanitarian concern for Myanmar/Burma, its neighbours and its international partners.
Since 2007, over €7m in total has been provided by the Irish Aid Programme to Myanmar/Burma through NGOs and Irish missionaries for both long term development and emergency and recovery responses.
