A MINISTER of State has said the Government's participation in international efforts to assist development in Third World countries is hampered by the corruption of some governments it deals with.
The Minister of State for Finance, Mr Hugh Coveney, was speaking on a Bill authorising a contribution of £13 million by the Government to the Eleventh Replenishment of the Resources of the International Development Association (IDA). The Bill was passed.
Mr Michael Lanigan (FF) said the IDA had been a failure because the world's poorest countries were still becoming poorer.
Mr Lanigan called for an audit on how the money was spent. He said a crucial defect in the system was that much of this financial assistance went into the pockets of governments and did not filter down.
It was a disgrace that the United States had decided not to get involved in the first year of the present three year replenishment round, he said.
Mr Coveney said the US was far and away the biggest contributor to overseas programmes, inside and outside the United Nations.
There seemed to be a cohesive move in the current American administration, which had more confidence in the UN Secretary General, to bring its arrears position in respect of the UN and its agency "up to scratch", Mr Coveney said.
This was to be welcomed, he added, although the US position was not defensible in terms of the poverty described by Mr Lanigan.
One of the great difficulties for many aid agencies was that they, were dealing with intensely corrupt governments, Mr Coveney said. The Irish Government was concerned about this.
There was a need to build partnerships, not just with recipient governments, but with agencies operating in the countries concerned. Bodies not involved in government needed to take possession of many of these programmes, he said.