Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I agree with Deputy Higgins that the loss of life, currently 144, somehow masks the many thousands of people who have been displaced. That is one of the real issues in terms of aid. I acknowledge Deputy Higgins's long-standing interest in this area, especially at the time of the civil war in the 1980s and 1990s.

This type of humanitarian disaster underscores the importance of pre-positioned supplies. One often needs to get aid to an area in a matter of days, if not hours. The delivery of aid to where it is urgently required on the ground must be rapid and efficient. In terms of the assistance at this stage, somewhat removed from the disaster itself, best practice would dictate that we would consider the outcome of a needs assessment. Each disaster, be it Cyclone Nargis which hit Burma-Myanmar last year, which killed more than 125,000 people, or this hurricane, deserves a response commensurate with the needs assessment carried out by experts on the ground. That is something I intend to do once I receive the report.

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