3 Feabh 2014, 16:31
Officials from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will tomorrow brief the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade on an upcoming review of Ireland’s aid programme, to be published later in the year.
3 February 2014
The Development Assistance Committee at the OECD peer-reviews policies and programmes of each member every four or five years. As well as sharing good practice, the process ensures Member States are accountable for the international commitments they have made.
Chairman of the Committee Pat Breen TD says: “In 2012, Irish Aid’s budget amounted to €628.9 million, which focussed primarily on reducing poverty and hunger in sub-Saharan Africa. Irish people can be rightly proud of our development aid programme over the years, which has included long term development assistance in nine Key Partner Countries. In straitened financial times, we need to ensure Ireland’s official overseas aid programme continues to produce results.
\"Ireland’s membership of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) allows us to measure the effectiveness of our aid, ensuring that it is well managed, transparent and accountable. With the next DAC peer-review due to be published in October, tomorrow’s meeting is a timely opportunity to exchange views with the members of the peer review team tasked with assessing the quality of Ireland’s aid programme.”
The meeting takes place tomorrow Tuesday 4 February at 11 am in Committee Room 1, LH 2000. It will be broadcast live on Oireachtas UPC Channel 207. Committee proceedings can also be followed live here.
Media enquiries to:
Paul Hand,
Communications Unit,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
P: +3531 618 4484
M: +353 87 694 9926
Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade
Deputies:
Pat Breen, Fine Gael (Chairman)
Eric Byrne, Labour
Bernard Durkan, Fine Gael (Vice-Chairman)
Seán Crowe, Sinn Féin
Olivia Mitchell, Fine Gael
Gerald Nash, Labour
Dan Neville, Fine Gael
Brendan Smith, Fianna Fáil
Maureen O’Sullivan, Independent
Senators:
Deirdre Clune, Fine Gael
Mark Daly, Fianna Fáil
Lorraine Higgins, Labour
Michael Mullins, Fine Gael
David Norris, Independent
Jim Walsh, Fianna Fáil