Committee Reports > List of Committees > Dáil > 1980 > Committee of Public Accounts > Report - Appropriation Accounts 1978

APPENDIX 4

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

423/25

31 Márta 1980

A Chara

In the course of evidence given by me before the Public Accounts Committee on 6th March 1980 in relation to the Vote for International Cooperation for 1978 I undertook to furnish additional information on the following payments:

(a) £5,000 to the Higher Education Consultation Group;

(b) £33,854 for Development Education; and

(c) £111,550 to Chilanga Cement (Zambia).

I am now enclosing explanatory material relating to these three payments.

Mise le meas

ANDREW O’ROURKE

Oifigeach Cuntasaíochta,

An Roinn Gnóthaí Eachtracha.

S. Phelan Uas.

Cléireach an Choiste

Coiste Um Chuntais Phoiblí

Teach Laighin

Baile Átha Cliath 2

GRANT TO HIGHER EDUCATION CONSULTATION GROUP

1° The HECG—Higher Education Consultation Group—was established in 1975 following an invitation from the Agency for Personal Services Overseas to each University and College of Technology to be represented on a central committee which would inform, coordinate and develop their response to the needs of the Third World:

The role of the HECG has come to be defined as:

(i) to provide its member academic institutions with a facility for sharing experience and information in regard to development cooperation;

(ii) as a single coordinating body with its own secretariat, to help to facilitate participation in development cooperation by member institutions and individual academics alike;

(iii) to provide a mechanism by which Irish higher education institutions may evolve joint initiatives which would not be possible with the resources available in one institution alone;

(iv) to identify and remove or minimise any impediments to colleges and their staffs in making a useful contribution to development overseas and to enable the views of the higher education sector to have a greater impact in contact discussions and negotiations both at home and abroad;

(v) to advise and assist the Department of Foreign Affairs in the development of projects involving higher education institutions both in Ireland and the Third World;

(vi) to assist the Department of Foreign Affairs in placing fellows from Third World countries in Irish educational and training institutions.

2° From its establishment until 1978, HECG was serviced by APSO—the chief executive of APSO being the secretary to the Group. With the growth in the volume of activity, APSO felt that it was unable to cope any longer and the group decided that an independent secretariat should be established. In September 1977, the Chairman applied for a grant of £5,000 towards the administration costs to enable HECG to continue to develop.

3° The request for a grant, placed before the Inter-Departmental Committee on 15 February 1978 was recommended to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, who approved the grant on 21 March 1978.

4° On 7 March 1978 APSO also approved a grant of £2,000 to HECG to cover the balance of the administrative costs.

DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION

In 1978, the Minister for Foreign Affairs announced that he was for the first time making funds in the sum of £35,000 available for development education within the Bilateral Aid Fund. The objectives of the Department’s activities in the field of development education may be summarised as:

(a) To stimulate awareness in Ireland of the conditions in and the problems of developing countries;

(b) To inform and encourage public interest in national and international programmes which assist the developing countries;

(c) To encourage and facilitate Irish bodies which are active in the field of development education.

The measures which are undertaken in pursuit of these objectives include:

(a) Information activities of the Department relating to development cooperation;

(b) Activities directed to the mass media to encourage coverage of development issues;

(c) Activities undertaken in cooperation with other Government Departments or national bodies;

(d) Co-financing or other measures in cooperation with non-governmental organisations;

(e) Liaison with other governments and international bodies, e.g. the EEC.

The principles governing the implementation of the development education programme have been discussed in consultation with interested bodies. In general, co-financing with NGO’s has been carried out in 1978 on the basis of case-by-case examination of projects. The major portion of the total allocation has been used for co-financing of development education activities undertaken by non-governmental bodies. A complete list is attached.

BILATERAL AID FUND (1978)

Development Education Allocation: £35,000

CHILANGA CEMENT PROJECT—ZAMBIA

The details of the payment in respect of Chilanga Cement are:

The project was begun in 1978 and is due to continue to 1981. The company which is controlled by INDECO, a Zambian semi-State body, lost money consistently over a number of years and had suffered major technical problems in the manufacture of cement due to lack of expertise. The Irish Government was approached in 1977 to see if technical assistance could be provided to correct the situation, and to turn the losses into profit.

Under the agreement with Chilanga Cement Ltd of Zambia, an eleven man Irish team from Irish Cement Ltd was seconded to the Zambian company to advise on the operation and maintenance of its two cement plants and on the future development of the industry in Zambia. Irish Cement also provides the training of local staff with a view to them taking over from the Irish team at an early date. The external costs of the projects in 1978 was £111,550, which was made up as follows:

The external costs of the project are met from the Bilateral Aid Programme and those in Zambia by Chilanga Cement.

Zambia is a land-locked developing country and its position as a front-line State on the border with Zimbabwe has caused considerable disruption to its transport network with consequential damage to imports and exports; allied to this, the sharp fall in copper prices (copper is a major export) in recent years has also meant that Zambia no longer has the foreign exchange it needs to pay for its imports. One of these is construction materials. In an attempt to reduce its dependence in external supplies, Zambia places great importance on the operation of Chilanga Cement to produce a greater part, if not all, of Zambia’s requirement for cement. Zambia does not have the foreign exchange necessary to pay for the expertise required and, because of the tradition of good relations between Ireland and Zambia since before its independence in 1974, Zambia requested Ireland’s assistance in this field.

¹This sum covered the costs (fees, travel and subsistence) for a 3-man team of auditors supplied by Irish Cement Ltd in accordance with the agreement with Chilanga Cement Co.