Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

I have a further question since the Minister of State has raised the issue of an emergency. I agree with some international observers in this field on the definition of an emergency. If one considers the Government commitment of €2 million, then the increase to €10 million and the final increase to €20 million, was the emergency not obvious at the time of the €2 million donation? Why were the additional funds not committed among the international community until different people had visited? Does that argue against the principle that once an emergency presents itself it should be recognised as such?

Will the Minister of State address the various questions involved? He raised the issue of advocacy. Does he agree that the issue of advocacy enables poor people to tell their stories, for example, or draw attention to the absence of democracy? That arises crucially in the case of Burma, for example. How would an NGO be doing wrong by encouraging people to demand democracy in Burma-Myanmar so that the number of dead could be counted? If one were to compare that kind of advocacy with the recognition by the Irish Government of the Burmese military regime, which would be the most likely to enable the people of Burma to tell the full story of the dead and the displaced? The Minister of State might reflect on that.

When the Minister was in discussion in particular with his Scandinavian colleagues, who suffered great losses in the tsunami disaster, did the Irish Government seriously consider the establishment of a disaster logistics core either on its own or in co-operation with other members of the European Union?

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