Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

That is a very pertinent question and it arose at the meeting of Foreign Ministers attended by the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, and me in Brussels. The issue of enhancing the EU's civil logistics response capability is actively under consideration. It is being pursued as we speak at European level. In effect, we are trying to ramp up our capability and ensure that Europe can respond in a timely and efficient fashion to future disasters, even though they may be unforeseen. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, has met several Scandinavian colleagues on that topic and others, as he said in the House. I will reflect on the Deputy's ideas and notions of advocacy, which are worth considering. The Minister wrote specifically to the Burmese authorities regarding allowing non-governmental organisations, NGOs, and similar organisations to enter the country to assist. In that sense, we have covered that.

I am not quite clear what the Deputy was trying to say regarding the amount pledged to the emergency appeal. It is fair to say that, as the disaster unfolded following St. Stephen's Day, expectations regarding the death toll changed daily. In other words, the initial allocation of €1 million was given in the immediate response as the first reports were coming in. I remind the House that when officials contacted me and we spoke of the unfolding emergency, the projected death toll in the first 24 hours after the disaster was approximately 6,000 to 8,000. As we all know, within a matter of days, that figure had risen dramatically, leading to a doubling of our assistance to €2 million.

Before New Year's Eve, there were discussions between me, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, the Taoiseach and officials from his Department with regard to further and increased levels of support in the light of the rising death toll. As the Deputy is aware, €10 million in assistance was announced that day. Thereafter, we had a very significant meeting, which the Taoiseach and the Minister attended, with leading Irish NGOs involved in emergency assistance and work. Out of that meeting and the earlier Cabinet meeting, the decision was taken that the Minister should travel to the region to see the devastation at first hand. During that visit, the Minister announced — rightly, in my view — a further €10 million in assistance, bringing our total to €20 million.

In fairness, Deputy Michael Higgins will accept, as the Seanad spokesmen of his party and Fine Gael did this morning during an exchange of statements on the tsunami and as, I believe, everyone does on a cross-party basis, that the Government's response was speedy and generous. That was reflected by members of all the parties represented in the Seanad. Perhaps Deputy Michael Higgins will also take that on board.

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