Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 June 2021
649. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if any Irish foreign aid to either other countries, charities or international bodies has been appropriated by terrorist organisations or foreign governments between 2015 and 2020; and if so, the details of same. [30678/21]
View answerThe Counter Fraud policy of the Department of Foreign Affairs, which affirms our zero tolerance towards fraud, sets out the procedures for the prevention, detection and dealing with instances of fraud or suspected fraud, including in partner organisations. Information regarding suspected frauds, along with information regarding recovered and unrecovered funding, in Irish Aid’s areas of work are published and updated quarterly on the Irish Aid website at this address. Web Report Oct 2019 (irishaid.ie). We are unaware of misappropriations of the type described by the Deputy.
ODA funding is allocated, monitored and evaluated using the standard approaches of the Department of Foreign Affairs including risk analysis, with particular attention given to the design of humanitarian funding.
The OECD Development Assistance Committee’s extensive review of Ireland’s ODA programme in 2020 reported that “Ireland is widely seen as an excellent partner, providing quality financing and supporting its investments with a presence on key partner bodies such as boards and donor support groups where Ireland uses its influence to improve effectiveness and coherence”.
