Irish Aid transparency rated ‘poor’ for fourth time in six years

The Department of Foreign Affairs has defended its overseas aid programme, after an international ratings body ranked its transparency levels as ‘poor’ for the fourth time in six years.

The Aid Transparency Index places Ireland 38th out of 46 major donors. The index takes in individual countries and agencies and collectives, such as the World Bank, United Nations agencies, and the European Commission.

Irish Aid has had a budget of €600m a year since 2010, yet this is the fourth time since then that its performance has been rated ‘poor’ on a scale that includes ‘very good’, ‘good’, ‘moderate’, ‘poor’, and ‘very poor’.