John O'Shea's criticisms of the Irish Aid programme are wrong, argues Dermot Ahern
In a few short years we have brought overseas development policy from the margins to the centre of Irish foreign policy. It is a policy based on the Irish people's profound and unique sense of solidarity with the world's poor.
It is based on the fact that our history is their history: colonial and civil war, disputed boundaries, famine and economic stagnation. What we have overcome, they suffer still today.
That experience has forged within us an abhorrence of injustice and poverty. As Minister for Foreign Affairs I have tried to live up to those values in advancing a vision of Ireland as a bridge between the developing world, a global leader in the fight against poverty and a global centre for conflict resolution.
I believe that every Irish person has a role to play in assisting the developing world. That's why we are shortly opening a Volunteering and Information Centre in O'Connell Street which will be followed by centres in Cork and Galway as promised in the programme for government.
We have established a Rapid Response Corps of trained Irish experts ready to be deployed immediately to humanitarian crisis zones. We are also funding schools and colleges to travel to the developing world, and assisting private and public sector bodies in establishing developing partnerships with similar bodies in the developing world.
Again, because of our history, Irish people uniquely understand the developing world, we do not patronise, we grasp the complexities.
Unfortunately these complexities were not reflected in John O'Shea's recent article in this newspaper (Funding corrupt regimes no answer to Africa's ills - Opinion and Analysis, January 4th). His assertion that the Government is handing over blank cheques to corrupt states is wrong and wholly without foundation.
His decision to illustrate his argument with reference to the current crisis in Kenya is equally baseless, as Ireland through its aid programme gives absolutely no funding to the Kenyan government.
This country's aid programme is one of the best in the world. This year the Irish taxpayer will spend €914 million helping the poorest of the poor in a manner which has justly received international respect and recognition.
The emphatic reality is this: all of this aid is subject to the closest possible scrutiny by accountants, auditors and our officials on the ground in partner countries and at headquarters in Ireland.
The Irish Government hands over blank cheques to no one - neither to Irish NGOs such as Goal (the charity John runs), nor to Irish missionaries, nor to assisting our partners in sub-Saharan Africa in providing primary healthcare, education, clean water and action against HIV and Aids.
As John O'Shea knows well, no partner government is free to spend one cent of Irish development assistance in whatever way they please. Irish development assistance monies routed via partner governments are ring-fenced for spending in particular social and health and educational areas.
Though NGOs do marvellous work in the developing world, the development sector nationally and internationally - bar John O'Shea - accept that neither NGOs nor donors can ever replace governments. Building a strong education system is better than building a single school. Building a strong health system is better than building a single clinic. That can only be done by working with governments, and by ensuring that every last cent given for a particular social or educational project is spent in that project.
John is equally mistaken in his suggestion that the appalling situation currently unfolding in Kenya applies more broadly in Africa.
Africa, no more than Europe, is not a monolith. While the situation in Kenya is deeply worrying, we greatly regret that John should have talked about "the appalling vista of another Rwanda looming".
There is simply no comparison to Rwanda, as many commentators on the ground, including other NGOs, have made very clear.
In addition, I believe that John's views that foreign troops should have been sent in to Kenya, although well meant, would if implemented have been a massive error of judgment and extremely dangerous, irresponsible and counter-productive. At the same time, I am particularly pleased that all the international efforts to find a peaceful solution seem now to begin to be bearing fruit.
We all hope that the situation in Kenya will settle down quickly and that Goal staff who have been doing such fine work, will be able to get back to work. I respect John's decision to remove them temporarily for safety and security reasons.
The Government, as stated above, is proud to be a major funder of Goal's and all of our major NGO operations in the developing world. My colleague, the Minister of State for Overseas Development, Michael Kitt, has recently completed an agreement with Goal which provides approximately €100 million over a five-year period under Irish Aid's multiannual programme scheme for NGOs. In addition, the Government will continue separately to support Goal's emergency activities, to which we gave some €4 million last year. One of the guiding principles of Ireland's aid programme is that support for development must be based on a partnership between equals.
The Government particularly believes that the governments and peoples of our partner countries are primarily responsible for their own development and should lead the development process, just as the Irish government did in the past here at home.
This is the only sustainable position to take. It would be impossible and hugely irresponsible for any outside body to try and take over and provide basic social services in a developing country. We want the benefits of our support to be lasting and to reach as many as possible, particularly those most in need. That said, we do not follow this principle of partnership and equality blindly.
Irish Aid recognises the critical and central importance of governments in developing countries providing their people with fair and effective governance.
In all of Irish Aid's partner countries, we work closely with and support key groups in society, such as trade unions and the independent media, in the critical role of holding their governments to account. We also strongly support those institutions - national parliaments, auditors general, etc - which help ensure that greater transparency and accountability is brought to bear. The White Paper on Irish Aid, which underpins our entire policy, is frank in highlighting the need to address corruption as a key challenge.
Irish people can be proud of our aid programme, and of the difference it is making in their name on the ground, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Of course, aid programmes have made mistakes in the past, and will again in the future.
But I believe we in Ireland, with our untied aid, with our great missionary and volunteer tradition of working in real partnership, and with our intense monitoring of our programmes, have got it largely right.