asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the amount of money that has been budgeted for in this year's bilateral aid allocation for each of the following: (1) Lesotho, (2) Zambia, (3) Tanzania, (4) Sudan and (5) the domestic programme for development education.

23.

asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the amount of money that was (a) budgeted for and (b) actually spent within the bilateral aid programme for the following countries: Lesotho, Zambia, Tanzania and Sudan in 1978, 1979, 1980; and the real increase or decrease in money terms, taking into account inflation of the value of the Irish contribution.

With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take questions Nos. 22 and 23 together.

With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle also, I propose to circulate in the Official Report a statement giving the information requested by the Deputy in relation to budgeted and actual expenditure in Lesotho, Tanzania, Zambia and Sudan. Since our assistance to these countries involves expenditure in Ireland as well as in the countries concerned, in order to calculate the real increase or decrease, it would be necessary to take into account many factors, including rates of inflation in Ireland, the recipient countries and exchange rate fluctuations. This could only be done with excessive difficulty and cost. In any event it would not give a true picture of the development of our programmes in these countries since this depends on the rate at which projects can develop as well as the availability of funds.

The amount provisionally earmarked for development education in 1981 is £40,000.

Following is the statement: