Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Like others, I thank Mr. Power for his presentation, which was so stark and honest. I watched the television report on the news one night recently featuring Mr. Power and his colleague, Barry Andrews. It was obvious not only how shocking the situation was but how shocked people such as Mr. Power, who has seen disasters before, were by the scale of what has happened. It was shocking to see young children semi-naked and shivering with the cold with nothing.

There was a good deal of criticism about the slow response. I am glad Mr. Power remarked that Ireland was not one of the countries guilty of that. We were on the ground within days doing assessment work. We had the rapid response corps there. Irish aid arrived in the Philippines before we began to hear complaints of delays.

Consequently, I believe we are not culpable in that regard. The other concern obviously is money and I note that in a recent survey carried out in Ireland, unlike previous surveys there seemed to be a drop in support for State aid going out of the country. I do not know whether Mr. Power saw that. It was not against aid per sebut simply against State aid and people appeared to be expressing a preference to fund themselves. The State has stepped up and will continue to so do but while the Philippines is a long way from here, there is hardly an Irish person who does not know a Filipino. Both Mr. Power and my family have reason to be grateful to the health care workers from the Philippines. There has been a response by way of donations, which I believe will continue. A coffee morning was held here at Leinster House and although it was very quickly organised and not that well-publicised, within an hour €3,000 was raised. I am sure everyone is involved in various fund-raising events and it is to be hoped Ireland will not be found wanting.

I wish to make one point related to Mr. Power mentioning that in humanitarian disasters like this, there is a particular risk to children and security. I believe his organisation was represented at a summit I attended last week at which everyone present made a commitment to pay particular attention to the security of women and children in emergency situations. I was pleased that in his opening statement, Mr. Power mentioned the huge increase in gender-based violence in humanitarian situations. In the past, however, it has often been dealt with and recognised after the event and I note this commitment to deal with it now, upfront, through prevention, before it becomes a major problem. I hope UNICEF, through its work on the ground, recognises it is just as life-threatening to be raped as it is to be hungry, certainly for women and children, who are particularly vulnerable. I thank Mr. Power for the presentation.