Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

How is emergency humanitarian assistance managed? If we have a set budget and there is a significant sequence of earthquakes, tsunamis or whatever, are we strictly bound by the terms of the budget? I note that we recently released additional money for Syria and South Sudan. One thinks of money always being available in emergencies. Do we need to stick rigidly to the budget regardless of tsunamis or other international crises, or do we have access to additional funding?

I commend those involved in the rapid response initiative. There are unofficial ambassadors representing Ireland in all sorts of agencies. We are engaging with the diaspora to bring investment to Ireland. However, we have not yet rewarded people who volunteer for rapid responses to crises throughout the world. They deserve some sort of recognition or status because they drop whatever they are doing to go off and do phenomenal humanitarian work.