Setting down in Ethiopia is a culture shock. Not just visually, it assaults your senses. No rains have fallen here for three years and yet there is still optimism that they will come. The air is dry and heavy and the earth cracked and barren. The Ethiopians are a great and proud people with an old and complex civilization yet needs are simple here, food, water, shelter, medicine - rain.

Travelling around Ethiopia is an ordeal. One can't help making comparisons with our own country. Infrastructure is taken for granted at home but here it is unheard of. Travel is predominantly done on light aircraft and battered vehicles, it is a harrowing experience. One flight, which carried our small team landed minus a window that had blown out on our descent into Gode but was replaced on our return flight to Addis Ababa. The return trip was also a real adventure with the pilots' assistant holding on to the door, using his braces as a safety catch and holding on for dear life.

I was accompanied by Senator Mick Lanigan and the excellent secretary to the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee, Patrick Judge, and we were interested to see how Irish aid was being used in Ethiopia, to witness first hand the work done by our outstanding NGOs and to meet with many of the key figures there.

As a former Minister for Foreign Affairs I was honoured that the amount of Ireland's development assistance has grown significantly in absolute terms, from £40 million in 1992 to over £200 million this year. The Department of Foreign Affairs has a huge remit and the developmental aid section, headed by Ms Margaret Hennessey during my term in office, refocused the objective and strategy or our aid to the great benefit of many Ethiopian men, women, and children.

Our Foreign Affairs Committee group only had a short time in Ethiopia and were anxious to visit as many projects as possible, while also meeting with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Tekeda Alemu (High in praise of his counterpart here in Ireland, Liz O'Donnell and her efforts on the humanitarian aid front).

Recent media coverage has made much of the peace plan between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The guns are now silent. The Organisation for African Unity and the United Nations have appealed for forces to man the border between the two countries.

Perhaps our own forces have a role to play here with their enormous record in international peace keeping. It is shameful that once again war takes centre stage in a country where surviving is the prime objective for the majority of the 60 million population .

We also took time to meet members of the Irish community in a very well organized reception by our dedicated and hardworking Charge d'Affaires, Ambassador Pauline Conway.

It is often said that wherever you visit in the world there will be an Irish presence and Ethiopia is no exception. Yet it is a strange place for an Irish community to take root. Most of these men and women work with the NGOs and various businesses.

The programmes we witnessed centre on basic needs - agricultural development, healthcare and primary education. Our first stop was Mekelle in the Tigray region three hours flight north of Addis and a development programme funded by Irish aid, which espouses the concept of partnership and sustainability.

We were met by the president of the Tigray regional government who expressed sincere thanks to the Irish nation for their support.

The most distressing visit was the Goal project, which was set up for street children in the capital. As usual it is the children who are the innocent victims but with the work of our NGOs they are being given another option in life. They are being educated as well as being fed.

Another stop on our programme was Gode, an area near the Somalia border south of Addis. Here we visited the Bare village and once again Goal and Concern were the agencies present on the ground. A satellite clinic is shortly to be established in Gode hospital for supplementary and therapeutic feeding centres in the town. Medical supplies are basic and run out quickly. Like the other two agencies, Trocaire is strongly committed to Ethiopia.

In Bare word had spread quickly that food had been delivered to the region and the population rocketed-overnight. Hands were outstretched and supplies were scarce. The village elders told us that food has been in short supply for the last four months. The problem is one of logistics. The funding is available but the question is how to make sure that it reaches the right people in the remotest places.

Ethiopia is a country of extremes. It is either too dry or too wet. The unsung heroes of this country are the missionaries and the NGOs who work tirelessly in extremely difficult conditions.

Ireland can be proud of its role in offering a hand of support and friendship to a country so in need of assistance.