Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Question 82: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the actions he proposes to take to tackle the nascent famine in the Sahel region of the Sahara desert in order to avert a humanitarian disaster; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9579/12]

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Across the Sahel region of western Africa, a combination of drought, high grain prices, environmental degradation and chronic underdevelopment is expected to plunge millions of people into a new food crisis this year. Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Chad, northern Cameroon and northern Nigeria are all likely to be affected. The UN is reporting that there are already an estimated 10 million people struggling to get enough to eat.

The region is ill prepared to manage a new food crisis, with a long history of recurrent droughts and food insecurity having eroded coping mechanisms and left many people increasingly vulnerable. Insecurity is also making the work of humanitarian organisations more difficult in many areas.

I have discussed the challenges involved with a number of key humanitarian partners over recent weeks, including Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva, and OCHA's Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Catherine Bragg. We agreed that we must learn from the Horn of Africa emergency and ensure that we act now and before the peak of this crisis. Our interventions must also strengthen people's livelihoods, target the most vulnerable groups in the most affected areas, and be well coordinated around national plans.

To this end, I have recently approved a package of funding for the region valued at over €5 million.

This support will be disbursed through a range of partners providing life-saving assistance on the ground, including UN agencies such as the World Food Programme and OCHA, the international federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies (IFRC), which includes the Irish Red Cross, as well as a number of Irish NGOs.

Finally, together with other donors and aid agencies, we will work to ensure greater linkages between our emergency relief and development programmes and in this way tackle the underlying vulnerabilities of people across the region.