Dan Neville (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Power and Ms White for appearing before the committee. As some of my questions have been answered, I will cross them off as that would involve repetition.

There was a delay in responding to the typhoon. What was the weather forecast and the expectation beforehand? A typhoon was expected, although perhaps not at the level at which it developed. Had adequate planning taken place prior to the event? What was the timespan for planning given that we know how difficult weather forecasting can be? We have a week long weather forecast here which is reasonably accurate. What is the position there? Some criticisms were reported in the press regarding how Irish aid especially to NGOs was routed to the Philippines. We have been assured that the international aid agencies with which they linked were reputable - I have no doubt they are - but when one sees that level of criticism at how the aid is used, it perhaps damages the response of people if there is a question mark. A comment on that issue might allay some fears around that area.

I was in Za'atari refugee camp. What are the implications for the closing of the Jordanian borders? Did the international community respond to the difficulties experienced by Jordan in that regard? We saw at first hand the difficulties being experienced by the sheer numbers of refugees, some of whom were highly professional people. Many were beginning to seep into Jordanian society and, obviously, some in Jordan saw them as a threat to employment at certain levels given that they had high levels of expertise. The Jordanians were hoping there would be a better response to the position of the refugees. The complexity of that camp was quite informative in that it was a society in itself. The UN leader, whose name I cannot recall, said he was going to develop a city. He said the camp was a city and that it must be treated as a city by putting in the facilities and the structures of a city and allowing democratic political involvement of the refugees in what was happening. As it is some time since we were there, I would be interested to hear how it is developing.