The US government's allocation of $13.5 million (€11 million) to the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) is this year's biggest waste of taxpayers' money on foreign projects, an influential US report launched by presidential candidate senator John McCain has said.
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), which has more than one million members, said in its annual "Congressional Pig Book" of government waste projects that the US government was "flushing away" money by funding the World Toilet Summit in Belfast through the IFI.
Other IFI projects criticised by the report include the Newcastle YMCA in Co Down; a donation to Creggan Community Cafe and Catering Ltd in Derry; the Donegal Town Waterbus; the Leitrim Food Centre of Excellence and the Chef Development Programme in Belfast.
The World Toilet Summit, which was held in Belfast last September after the IFI donated $65,000 and sent a representative to the conference, was cited as a particularly bad example of US government waste.
"Could there be a better example of the government flushing away your money?" the report said, listing the IFI as the biggest waste of taxpayers' money in the "Foreign Operations" section of congressional spending.
The IFI has been a frequent target of CAGW. However, this year's report has come under a cloud after a Florida newspaper suggested the organisation was using its good standing with members of Congress to lobby on behalf of tobacco companies and other CAGW donors.
However, Senator McCain said he had many years of close dealings with the group and had never seen any such lobbying.
A spokesman for the Irish Embassy in Washington defended the IFI allocation for the World Toilet Summit, saying it was part of the IFI's commitment to funding high-profile conferences and events that lead to economic regeneration in Northern Ireland.