Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy's latter point is well made. The Minister has asked his European colleagues to follow our example and appoint to the region, at national level, their own special envoys. I am delighted to note that the UN has followed our example in appointing Bill Clinton as a special envoy. At EU level the Commission has given a commitment that it will monitor the efficacy of what is donated, pledged and spent, but on a separate level this issue was raised by the Minister for Foreign Affairs at the meeting of Foreign Ministers, which was the first official European response to the tsunami crisis. It was an Irish position from day one, enunciated by the Minister, which led to the wider European adoption of the idea. It was an Irish initiative and we were thanked for that. It was not as if the UN and other agencies were afraid of being monitored or having their work second-guessed. The initiative was greatly welcomed.

I also met Mr. Richard Manning in Paris. He is the chairman of the development assistance committee of the OECD and we got agreement from him at OECD level that he keep in contact with Jan Egeland of the UN to ensure that the moneys and pledges are tracked right through to becoming full, proper allocations and donations to the countries involved. The generosity of the response has been matched by an interesting and parallel concern among people and governments giving money both to NGOs and others. That concern in parallel with the sympathy, solidarity and support has taken the form of a consensus that whatever money is collected should go to the needy and that there should be no wastage or misallocation.

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