Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I welcome this opportunity to make a statement to the House. Words cannot adequately describe the tragic events that unfolded one month ago on the morning of 26 December last. I, for one, cannot think of an occurrence in living memory that has touched the lives of so many people in so many countries and regions throughout the world. That morning and in the hours that followed the sheer power of nature directly impacted upon Indonesia, Sri Lanka, south India, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Maldives, Thailand, Myanmar-Burma, Malaysia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, the Seychelles and Bangladesh. The people of these areas have suffered enormous physical and personal losses. No matter how great or small the damage caused to them, the thoughts and prayers of the House and the Irish people are with all citizens of this region as they come to terms with rebuilding their lives and livelihoods.

Here in Ireland we learned with great sadness of the confirmation of the deaths of Eilis Finnegan from Dublin and Conor Keightley from Armagh. I convey again the Government's condolences to their families and friends, who have seen the lives of their loved ones cut short in such a shocking way. Our thoughts go also to the families and friends of Lucy Coyle and Michael Murphy, who are still missing.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, will outline to the House the efforts of the Department of Foreign Affairs regarding Irish citizens, as well as his firsthand experience of visiting the region. For my part, I emphasise how proud the Government is of all the Irish personnel and volunteers who devoted their time to this unprecedented challenge.

The Department of Foreign Affairs, the crisis centre of which I visited on New Year's Eve, responded to the concerns of thousands of callers regarding more than 1,200 people reported to be in the region. Our embassy personnel across the region worked superbly in the most difficult of circumstances to locate Irish citizens and to help the families of those citizens injured or feared to be lost.

Other branches of the State made an equally valuable contribution to the overall effort. In saying this, I have in mind the Garda Síochána which sent personnel to Phuket in Thailand and worked tirelessly with the Department of Foreign Affairs to track down the remaining Irish people unaccounted for. I must also mention the Department of Health and Children and the Health Service Executive, which established a counselling helpline for those returning Irish citizens traumatised by the experience of the tsunami.

The estimated loss of life to date has just been increased to 280,000 people. The number of injured is expected to exceed the number of dead. Families have been destroyed, children have been orphaned and parents are grieving for their missing children. Livelihoods and whole communities have been washed away, leaving those who survived with nothing but the rubble of their shattered homes and businesses. The efforts of the survivors to recover and rebuild their lives must now be the focus, not just in the short term but also over the difficult months and years ahead. The development challenges faced by the region as a result of the tsunami will not disappear once the cameras have moved on to the next tragedy or disaster. The process of rebuilding shattered communities will take years. Ireland will play its part in these efforts.

Over recent weeks, we have witnessed unprecedented expressions of generosity across the world. While the power of nature has once again revealed itself with terrifying consequences, the power of the human spirit to respond with compassion and help has been remarkable. Ireland, like many countries, has reacted with speed and generosity to the appeals for help from the countries and communities affected. We were one of the first countries to respond in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami.

Immediately, on St. Stephen's Day, the Government pledged €1 million to the relief effort. This was doubled to €2 million two days later as the preliminary assessments of the scale of the disaster became available. Following the recent visit of the Minister for Foreign Affairs to the region, our pledge has increased to €20 million. Of this sum, €10 million is additional to the overall 2005 Government aid budget, which has now risen to €545 million. The remainder will come from Development Co-operation Ireland's emergency humanitarian fund. This fund is deliberately designed to be flexible to respond to disasters of this kind wherever they occur. This is the largest amount Ireland has ever pledged to a single emergency.

The European Union has also been a major contributor to the tsunami relief effort, with €473 million now pledged by the European Commission and overall member state pledges of approximately €1.5 billion. A special session of the General Affairs and External Relations Council was held in Brussels on 7 January to discuss the tsunami disaster, and a follow-up discussion will take place at the Council next Monday. The EU Presidency has circulated a draft action plan proposing follow-up actions that the EU should take to strengthen its current capacity to react to this and future humanitarian crises, including ideas for an EU civilian rapid response capability. The tsunami disaster has also illustrated the way in which military resources of EU countries can contribute in humanitarian relief situations. It has highlighted the importance of enhancing civil-military co-operation.

Co-ordination, in general, is the key to effective emergency humanitarian response. It is the Government's strong view that the United Nations is best positioned to provide clear leadership and co-ordination of the emergency and recovery efforts. Its work in countries such as Afghanistan, Liberia, Sierra Leone and others has given it the capacity and experience to carry the emergency effort forward. Ireland has already allocated €3 million to UN agencies working in the region.

The UN will also play a crucial role in helping governments put together plans for the long-term reconstruction and rebuilding of the affected regions. Included in this must be the issue of early-warning systems for natural disasters. I welcome the outcome of the United Nations world conference on disaster reduction held in Kobe, Japan, last week, at which delegates pledged their support to create a regional tsunami early warning system in the Indian Ocean.

It is clear at this stage that while the tsunami has affected many countries, the local capacity of countries, communities and people to respond and recover differs greatly. This is a function of the level of development and wealth of each affected country. Sri Lanka and the Banda Aceh region of the Indonesian island of Sumatra have been the worst affected by this disaster in terms of the scale of the destruction and in terms of loss of life. Following the recommendations of the assessment team which the Government sent to the region, the focus of the aid effort is quite rightly on these two countries.

In Sri Lanka and Banda Aceh, Ireland is working with the Red Cross, UN agencies and non-governmental organisations such as Concern, GOAL, Oxfam and Trócaire to ensure that our assistance is balanced geographically and focused on the immediate requirements of the most vulnerable people. Shelter — temporary and permanent — and associated services such as clean water and sanitation are priorities. The rebuilding of livelihoods such as fishing, market trading and small business must follow. We will assist in this endeavour.

The public response in Ireland to the disaster has been truly remarkable. As we have seen many times before, the Irish public responds to such emergencies far out of proportion for a country so small. The total amount raised now exceeds €50 million. This is an expression of extraordinary human solidarity.

The link between natural phenomena and the vulnerability of people has been brought into sharp focus by the events in South-East Asia. The capacity of nations and communities to deal with natural disasters, recover and move on is closely related to their level of development. Time and again we see clearly that it is the poorest people who are most vulnerable to natural and other threats.

In other current humanitarian disasters such as in Darfur and northern Uganda it is also the poor, particularly women and children, who are most vulnerable. Long-term aid programmes do not attract the same media attention and public support as humanitarian disasters. However, it is the slow and painstaking human development gains made in areas such as agriculture, health care provision, education and improved governance that will ultimately allow communities and people to better protect themselves, understand and respond more quickly to natural and other threats and enjoy social and economic development.

It is critical at this time when the focus of all our efforts is rightly on South-East Asia that we do not forget other parts of the world which are in great need, most specifically Africa. The main focus of the Government's aid programme has always been and will continue to be Africa. Over three quarters of all Government spending on aid is directed to the world's poorest countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This year will be no different. The greatest level of poverty is to be found in Africa and the majority of deaths from disease, malnutrition and other preventable causes is a silent tsunami. Some 8,000 people a day are dying from HIV-AIDS in a disaster without parallel in modern history.

The most important way in which we can reduce human vulnerability to poverty and natural and man-made emergencies is to work towards the millennium development goals which were agreed by 189 nations. They are the best benchmarks by which we can measure human progress in the decade ahead. Our development programme is closely aligned to these targets.

There is a common thread of poverty and vulnerability between many of those affected by the tsunami in South-East Asia and those struggling against almost impossible odds in Africa. Our response and that of the international community must be sustained and comprehensive if poor and vulnerable people everywhere are to share the same hopes for the future that we take for granted in our lives today.

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