An ombudsman should be appointed to investigate claims of unfairness in the allocation of overseas aid, it has been suggested.
Aid Watch International, a Mullingar-based body set up to campaign for improved aid policies, says such a development would help make Ireland's overseas development assistance more open, both to people here and in the developing world.
AWI says Ireland's official aid policy is over-centralised and the structures in place are inadequate to protect the aid destined for the poor.
The main organisations involved occupy too many, and conflicting, roles, as policy formulators, managers, evaluators and grant-givers.
In a submission to the committee currently reviewing Ireland Aid - the Government's aid programme - it calls for the formulation of policy to be handed over to a council appointed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Day-to-day implementation of policy should be carried out by an executive aid agency, into which the Agency for Personal Services Overseas (APSO) and the National Committee for Development Education should be subsumed.
"With up to £2.5 billion to be spent on aid in the coming years, it is important to ensure we have the transparent structures that will ensure that taxpayers' money goes where it should go," says Mr Martin McCormack, secretary of AWI.
He criticised the absence of any independent evaluation or monitoring of aid. The OECD carries out periodic reviews of the aid programmes of its member-states, and has praised Ireland's aid programme. However, Mr McCormack said these reviews focus on the economic interests of the donors.
Mr McCormack said the history of aid showed help wasn't always delivered as intended, and there were examples of this in Ireland.
On the credit side, he said Ireland Aid had proved itself flexible because it was small. Ireland, in contrast to many other Western states, was increasing its aid budget.
AWI was set up last year by a number of academics and business people, most of whom formerly worked overseas.
This week is the closing date for submissions to the Ireland Aid Review Committee, which was set up to assess its future role in the light of the Government's decision to quadruple the amount of money available for aid by 2007.
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ms Liz O'Donnell, chairs the committee, which is expected to issue its report later this year.
