Mellon hits out at Irish Aid over support
Property millionaire Niall Mellon, famous for building thousands of homes in South Africa’s slum townships, accused the Government’s development agency Irish Aid of dragging its feet when it came to offering help.
He was reported to have slammed the agency for operating in a “frustratingly slow” manner, despite Irish Aid awarding the Niall Mellon Township Trust project €5m in support last year.
Mr Mellon condemned the “civil service” attitudes of Irish Aid, claiming its officials finished work at 4pm on a recent trip to South Africa, in keeping with their Dublin culture.
Mr Mellon said he could have done much more in South Africa if the Irish Government had supported him earlier.
However, Overseas Aid Minister Peter Power reacted angrily to the comments when he appeared before an Oireachtas committee: “I do think the criticism is unfounded and disappointing. Last year we gave €5m to the Niall Mellon Trust – a very significant amount of money – and we are still waiting for financial reports as to how that money is accounted for. That is an ongoing issue which I intend to pursue very vigorously at this stage.
“The programme we have shaped is a world-class cutting-edge programme which was lauded by the OECD as one of the best programmes in the world and has been an effective programme.”
