Madam, - As CEO of a growing Irish non-governmental agency that specialises in caring for impoverished children in developing countries I feel I must respond to Mark Hennessy's article "Fragmenting of Irish Aid raised in report" published on October 19th. The Irish overseas aid programme is something of which the Irish people can be immensely proud and I know from comments made to me in many different programme countries that it is very highly thought of internationally. It makes perfect sense for Irish Aid to use the skills and specialised knowledge of the various NGOs which have been gained from many years working to overcome the problems in recipient communities.
My own organisation, ChildFund, for example, has been assisting impoverished children all around the world for over 65 years and we have learned a lot about the job in that time.
I agree with the authors of the report that partner organisations should be bound by strict contracts and tough reporting rules, as we are, but to suggest that Irish Aid would be more effective if more money was spent on monitoring the work of partner NGOs is ridiculous. Why spend money fixing a system that patently isn't broken? I was delighted that Minister of State for Overseas Development Michael Kitt took the time to respond to your article (Letters October 24th) and to read his favourable remarks concerning the work of the Irish Aid NGO partner organisations. As he said in that letter, we "would not have received funding if we were not satisfied with their work." That is as it should be. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL KIELY,
CEO,
ChildFund Ireland,
Lower Mount Street,
Dublin 2.