Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I do not think a sufficiently strong tank has been built to cater for the needs of Mr. O'Shea. They might implode. The image of the EU battle groups is completely at variance with their purpose. They could be equally called the EU humanitarian aid groups. One of their tasks is humanitarian aid. They comprise 1,500 personnel. The current one is Polish-led. It has trained for six months and is on stand-by for six months and is ready to move within 15 days. I am sure its centre of operations has a plan in place to move at a day's notice if it had to go to Haiti. The great thing about the battle group is that the structure is already in place and it could be allocated to an area.

The EU has given approximately €120 million and has pledged another €300 million. We should consider the concept of making personnel available. The Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, has sought additional personnel. However, with the best will in the world, bringing people through the UN structure can be difficult, as one is involving several different nationalities who have not trained together or met beforehand. Speed is of the essence in such cases. The Government could push to see if there is a requirement that the EU would be ready to send what I will call a humanitarian aid group to assist. We have a commitment to that concept but this country is not on-call, so to speak, until the first half of next year.

The rebuilding of Haiti is another issue. Everything has a cost, but we should bear in mind that when the country is being rebuilt it should be done in such a way as to ensure it is earthquake-proof, if that is not too strong a description. The buildings must be constructed in such a manner that the possibility of them falling down again is limited because, as sure as night follows day, there probably will be an earthquake there again in the future.

Another issue I wish to raise relates to the aid agencies. The Minister referred to it yesterday. One sees advertisements on the television urging people to donate to several different aid agencies. I accept we cannot be too prescriptive in this House but it would be useful in terms of economies of scale and the development of expertise if, under the auspices of Dóchas, aid agencies would consider taking a geographic area each rather than spreading themselves too thinly over too many areas. For example, it would be wonderful if Concern was the only aid agency in Haiti. Perhaps the Minister takes a different view, but it would be so much easier to channel aid, assistance and development. Instead of answering the calls of ten different agencies, one would be dealing with one agency responsible for a specific area. That is something the aid agencies must consider. It is my understanding that there were only three aid agencies with Irish connections operating in Haiti prior to the disaster, namely, Concern, Christian Aid and Médecins Sans Frontières.

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