Irish state aid going to some of most corrupt countries in the world

THE European Commission’s refusal this week to give Bulgaria and Romania its blessing to join the EU over corruption concerns once again highlights the growing consensus that no economy can prosper unless the cancer of corruption is first eliminated.

Yet our Government refuses to acknowledge the impediment which corruption poses in Ireland’s aid programmes by continuing to channel millions of aid in budgetary support to some of the most corrupt countries in the world.

The notoriously corrupt Ugandan government, for example, netted €9 million in 2004 alone. Worrying, too, is that Irish officials make substantial payments through local government structures even when gross violations of human rights are common in that country.