Development cash spent on ‘poorest of the poor’

TAXPAYERS’ money spent on overseas development aid goes to the ‘‘poorest of the poor’’ and not corrupt regimes, the Department of Foreign Affairs insisted yesterday.

The secretary general of the department, Dermot Gallagher, acknowledged dealing with the corrupt governments of countries such as Ethiopia and Uganda was ‘‘not ideal.’’

But unlike other countries, Ireland did not give those governments money to use at their discretion.