Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to make a statement to the Dáil on this matter. We have all been shocked and saddened at the destruction wreaked by the natural disaster which hit northern Pakistan and the surrounding areas on Saturday. The earthquake measured approximately 7.6 on the Richter scale. Aftershocks were as high as 5.9 in the immediate aftermath and they continue still on a lesser scale.

The result has been widespread devastation of towns and villages. Families and communities have been devastated. The death toll is now estimated to be in excess of 20,000 people. The final figure will be higher. Non-fatal casualties will be many times that figure. Many of the fatalities are children. Gathered together in schools, as their parents worked in the fields or workplaces, they were particularly vulnerable when the earthquake struck. The depth of grief for those who survived is incalculable. We share in their sadness. We join the international community in mourning that loss of precious human life.

The President and the Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, conveyed the sympathies of the people of Ireland to their counterparts in Pakistan and India in the aftermath of this terrible disaster. I also extend my sympathies to the Pakistani community in Ireland which has been affected by this tragedy. We are fortunate to have such a vibrant Pakistani-Irish community in our country and I acknowledge its great contribution in assisting with relief efforts.

In appalling weather conditions, the immediate need is to bring relief and aid in order that further fatalities are minimised. Ireland has offered not just sympathy. Our allocation of €3 million is but an initial response to the needs of a people in the midst of an appalling human tragedy. In line with our previous timely response to both the tsunami and the food shortages in Niger earlier this year, our emergency response will be followed by a second phase response aimed at helping the region and its people towards recovery.

As Minister of State with responsibility for Irish aid, I have closely followed the situation since the earthquake on Saturday. I remained in contact over the following hours and days with my senior officials, the Taoiseach, colleagues in the Government and with key individuals such as the ambassador of Pakistan, His Excellency Mr. Toheed Ahmad, and representatives of the Pakistani community in Ireland. I convened a meeting of Irish NGO representatives to discuss the situation, hear their views and brief them on our response. Officials from my Department and in missions abroad are in close contact with UN agencies and the International Federation of the Red Cross regarding emerging needs and situation reports.

In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake I made an initial pledge of €1 million to assist with immediate relief efforts in the region. That cash response was announced the day after the earthquake. When, on Monday, I met the ambassador of Pakistan to Ireland he gave me an update of the situation on the ground and outlined the emerging needs identified by the government of Pakistan for food, shelter and medical items. The region faces enormous logistical difficulties. Roads that had been cleared were cut off again by landslide and torrential rains. Relief supplies to Muzaffarabad, one of the most affected areas, could only be undertaken using scarce and limited air resources, mainly helicopters.

At the meeting on Monday with representatives of non-governmental organisations involved in the relief effort, I obtained an indication of their preliminary requirements. I briefed them on the decision to make an additional €2 million available for relief efforts in Pakistan and the surrounding region. I also briefed and heard the views of a representative of the Pakistani community, Dr. Mazhar Bari, who, as it happens, is a good friend.

This brings to €3 million the amount made available for the region in the aftermath of the earthquake. The initial need is for food, shelter and other basic non-food requirements. The Government is supporting the UN effort with €1.2 million. The Government is also allocating €l million of this funding to UNICEF which has mobilised quickly and released its pre-stocked relief supplies of blankets, children's clothing, plastic sheeting, water purifications tablets and high protein biscuits. UNICEF has operated in Pakistan since 1947 and has staff and supplies in the country. UNICEF convoys are en route with other essential supplies.

Specific funding has also been allocated to the World Health Organisation, WHO, which is supporting the Pakistani Ministry of Health and local health authorities in co-ordinating the health component of the response, including relief supplies and human resources, and supporting the establishment of public health initiatives, including an early warning communicable disease surveillance. We have also provided funding for the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA. OCHA is taking the lead on supporting the government of Pakistan's relief efforts and the response of UN partners and agencies. In particular, it is mobilising and co-ordinating assessment, planning, implementation and monitoring of assistance which is crucial for the provision of timely and effective aid.

The Government has allocated €300,000 to the International Federation of the Red Cross. The Red Cross and Red Crescent family of organisations, which is very experienced and is present in the area through its local networks, is on the ground. Our funding will support its work in the area. In the meetings with Ambassador Ahmad and the NGOs, and in my public statements, I made clear that we were conscious of the need to assist the recovery process. The recovery needs of the region will obviously be enormous given the scale of the destruction and the challenge of working in such difficult terrain. The Government is committed to assisting local communities in the recovery effort, through our donor and humanitarian partners.

Ireland has earned a very strong international reputation for responding generously to emergency and humanitarian crises globally. The provision of timely, significant and flexible funding represents good humanitarian donorship and is in line with best practice internationally. It is a tangible and manifest example of how the public's money is spent to relieve extreme human suffering through humanitarian assistance. Humanitarian assistance will continue to feature strongly in the context of expanding budgetary resources in the area of development co-operation. Irish Aid plans to be a leader in this area and to leverage best practice.

We are fortunate in having non-governmental organisations, NGOs, active on the ground. Discussions have taken place with a number of the Irish NGOs working directly or through partners in the affected region. I understand that already, through the sterling work of our own Irish NGOs, money has been raised from the public. I am conscious of the strong contribution the Pakistani community and the wider Muslim community has made in Ireland and now call on the Irish public to be generous in their response. I give my own voice and that of the Government to these fund raising appeals. I have made funding of up to €1.5 million available in support of the efforts of the Irish based NGOs in terms of their intervention on the ground.

Funding to develop NGO capacity has also been made available through the multi-annual programme scheme which offers predictable funding over a period of years around which the NGOs can plan their efforts. These types of funding have helped them to respond to major humanitarian emergencies in a more effective and timely manner. We will continue to monitor the ongoing situation closely, with the assistance of UN agencies and partner organisations, to ensure that our assistance can be effectively targeted.

I will now turn to another humanitarian emergency unfolding in Central America. Severe flooding made worse by remnants of Hurricane Stan has and continues to deluge vast areas of Central America, including El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Families continue to flee what is left of their homes and entire villages have been swept away by swollen rivers and mudslides.

The official death toll from the floods ravaging Central America and Mexico surged in recent days as hundreds more were feared dead in Guatemala following last week's mudslide that swallowed two small towns in the west of the country. In addition, 72 people were listed dead in El Salvador, 28 in Mexico and 11 in Nicaragua. The death toll is likely to double as about 1,400 people were believed to have been buried alive by a mudslide that hit Guatemalan towns, just over 100 miles west of the Guatemalan capital.

The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the International Federation of the Red Cross have launched appeals on behalf of the agencies that are actively supplying disaster and emergency aid in the region. Ireland is in contact with the UN, the International Red Cross and Irish NGOs working directly or through partners to establish the most appropriate response at this point. In response to this emergency I have allocated funding of €1 million for humanitarian assistance, which will be dispersed among the Red Cross, the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs and non-­governmental organisations providing services on the ground.

In 2005 Ireland has already made separate contributions of over €9.5 million to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and €3 million to UNICEF for its global operations. These funds have been deliberately not earmarked to ensure they can be utilised quickly and effectively for emergency and humanitarian planning and rapid responses by these key UN agencies. This contribution from Ireland is in line with international best practice. UN agencies will demand and require more of this form of aid in the future whereby money is donated at an earlier stage. Every dollar available for pre-emptive or early intervention saves €7 in the cost of emergency response. Over €2 million was released to the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UNOCHA, to facilitate that agency to plan for prioritised humanitarian emergencies. Ireland's early funding provides much needed cash flow for these agencies at a time when they need it most.

The overall budget for humanitarian assistance is deliberately designed to be flexible in response to disasters of this kind wherever they occur. In the context of increased funding, the Government is reviewing all practices and procedures to ensure quality programming, including the provision of humanitarian relief and rapid response.

Ireland will respond as generously and effectively as possible to the humanitarian needs of the people of northern Pakistan and the surrounding regions as the situation unfolds by funding those agencies and NGOs optimally placed to deliver the wide range of basic needs and services which will be essential to protect the most vulnerable. A significant increase in resources for overseas aid is being planned for the period up to 2012. The Government will review and expand its early preparedness for these situations. The level of funding for emergency and recovery functions will be increased.

Some leading NGOs such as Trócaire, GOAL and Concern play a significant role in emergency response and the expanded programme will enhance and deepen the level of co-operation with those agencies. They do fantastic work in far-flung places and become involved in very difficult and dangerous situations such as earthquakes, famine, flood and incidences of civil disorder. The work of these agencies is strongly endorsed by the Government and the official Irish aid programme and the Government is anxious to enhance that co-operation. We will resume contact with our Pakistani friends at embassy and international level to maximise Ireland's contribution to the recovery phase in which people try to rebuild their lives and homes, return to work and school and normal life recommences where possible.

I thank all the party Whips who have provided me with the opportunity to outline the Government's response and its continuing interest.

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