Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

As far as possible we have liaised with all the people with whom we have contact and know are in Kenya. I agree with the Deputy as regards the very strong Irish missionary presence there. At this time we are not aware of anyone who is in grave difficulty. After the initial outbreak of difficulties, however, we aided and assisted a considerable number of people.

As regards the logistics of delivering food, there has been a dramatic improvement. The World Food Programme, WFP, provided 80 metric tonnes in a significant internally displaced persons, IDP, camp, sufficient for one month's supplies. On Friday and Saturday, 70 metric tonnes of food cereal and 27 metric tonnes of non-cereal were distributed to another ten sites. There were some difficulties. The Deputy is correct in his indication that WFP trucks had been stopped at roadblocks, but these have now proceeded with security escorts. It would appear the issue of humanitarian aid delivery is being looked after. There may, obviously, be incidents here and there, but by and large we are happy the aid is being delivered.

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