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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 20 Mar 2002

Vol. 550 No. 4

Written Answers. - Overseas Development Aid.

Nora Owen

Ceist:

179 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will give details of the information in a consultant's report carried out into Ireland Aid; if the consultants have criticised the manner in which Ireland Aid is managed with particular reference to the need for more permanent staff in the section; when the consultant's report will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9099/02]

It is assumed that this question refers to the Deloitte & Touche report on Ireland Aid procurement practices, which was mentioned in a recent article in The Sunday Business Post.

While this report dealt mainly with controls over procurement, and found that these are adequate, properly applied in accordance with the relevant guidelines and directives and effective in practice, it referred in passing to the issue of staffing arrangements in Ireland Aid in the context of the expanding aid programme. The consultants said that their discussions pointed to a need for significant changes in the manner in which Ireland Aid is managed and staffed. The lack of long-term career paths for development professionals under the current arrangements seemed to them to seriously undermine the capacity of Ireland Aid to develop structures required to meet the challenges posed by projected future growth in funding. While recommendations as to appropriate structural changes were outside the scope of their assignment, the consultants saw urgent implementation of necessary change as a priority.
Ireland Aid is fully seized of the importance of creating long-term career paths for development professionals and has been engaged in discussions on this subject with the Department of Finance. The objective is to achieve arrangements under which professional staff would be given,inter alia, longer contracts and a new grading structure. Some progress is being made in this respect. This is also one of the issues with which the review of Ireland Aid has concerned itself. The review committee has recently completed its report and this will be published in the very near future. Although the Deloitte & Touche report has not been published, copies are available on request from my Department.
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