Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

I am very happy to support the presentation on the disaster that is taking place in Haiti and the regular flow of statements that have come from the Minister of State. I agree, and it is very important, that in Parliament we would convey our sympathy to the people of Haiti. Tragically, the figure for those who have lost their lives is probably as high as 200,000, with 250,000 people who have serious injuries and 1.5 million who have lost their homes, and it is calculated that 2 million need serious assistance and 3 million have been affected.

Taking this debate where I believe it should go in regard to our positive response, the Irish public who are listening to or watching our proceedings should be thanked for their generosity apart from the State aid that has already been committed. While we will turn in a moment to the analytical or logistical difficulties that arise, the first point I would make from my own experience and knowledge is that every donation that has been made by an Irish citizen is needed, is being well spent, is welcome and is contributing positively to the reputation of Ireland. Such contributions, joined with the Government contributions, are how we are seen. While people may say in the case of the tsunami or Somalia that this happened or that happened, the interesting point is that the kind of contributions that were made in Ireland were found, after the examination post tsunami, to have been the most effective on the ground.

That having been said, Haiti is not a blank page. Two years ago, it experienced hurricanes. I calculate that approximately 10% of what was pledged by major donors to Haiti two years ago has arrived on the ground. The commitment for post hurricane reconstruction was at one stage of the order of €400 million. There will be many excuses with regard to civil society, whether the structures were in place on the ground and so on. I want to report positives in this regard, in particular the reception given to the vital assistance being provided by the United States military at this time, which is welcome and a great opportunity for the view by Haitians of their neighbour, the United States. It is something to be built upon. There is great importance attached to the construction of what one is doing, why one is there and what is the purpose behind one's aid. This is reflected in the difficulty, for example, of finding acceptance for less than 1,000 troops in the Dominican Republic, the immediate neighbour.

Haiti is not a tabula rasa. It comes with a certain kind of history - poverty neglected, international commitments not delivered, a president elected but gone into exile and now living in Cape Town, a military usurpation of democratic choice and, following that, a lacuna which produced serious factions which damaged the civil society. I want to be positive, however. It is incredibly important to concentrate on the post disaster reconstruction effort. It is very important to be able to build on the new awareness that will be there and to create something new.

In regard to Aceh, for example, the single biggest capital project coming from the United States, which is of a road infrastructure type and valued at approximately $240 million, is just now being done. In that case and others, the Irish public need to be told this information. It is not a case for stopping giving to these organisations, because they can be very well co-ordinated through Dóchas. If there has been a failure of donations, it is not this that has actually gone wrong. It is often a case of pledges which have not been delivered by very serious donors.

My other point concerns the media. I would hope the media will give time and space to a consideration of the future of Haiti. I was present in Somalia during the Somalian famine, when one could hardly move given the number of cameras in one's way, be it in the refugee camp in Mandera in the north or, where I was, in Baidoa, where people were dying at a rate of 130 a day. As soon as there had been a bogus landing in the middle of the afternoon, allegedly to protect warehouses, the international media flew away. Somalia deteriorated into being a stateless place. It was taken over by different factions but, all of the time, the structure had been there upon which a future could have been constructed. I refer explicitly to the clan system, but Western thinking was not able to take the clan system as a good basis for the reconstruction of the civil society.

It is necessary to see past where we are now to find how Haiti can be reconstructed, internally as well as with regard to its relationship with its neighbour. There is also, for example, Lara Marlowe's report today on Captain McInerney's views of what he is doing there and what it is like to be welcomed. Indeed, as the President said in one of his rare interviews, when one has a need like theirs, one does not matter who is landing on the grass. I support that approach as it is desperately needed to save those lives which can be saved. It is also necessary to deliver the required medical facilities while early amputations are being performed and where life itself is at stake.

During discussions on the reform of the United Nations the idea of a United Nations-led logistics unit became a wonderful prospect. Such a unit would have been in the best position to balance the separate logistical requirements of civil and military responses. Both responses are needed but there would be an acknowledgment of legitimacy for a unit led by the United Nations which was capable of balancing two systems of intelligent logistics and their delivery. The strengths of the NGO sector lie in its capacity for assessment on the ground and distribution.

In Somalia, one of the biggest issues was around tracing people. People who have lost children or elderly relatives will be anxious to find out where they are. The various agencies, such as the International Red Cross, do different things and require different expertise. I am very happy with the quick response of the Irish Government and the fact that it reports to us on its meetings in Europe. I am less than happy at the response of Baroness Ashton because this is an opportunity to give leadership. We are not simply adding in a European Union component and I would like the European Union to ally itself to the United Nations hegemony in its response. In fairness to people whom I have often criticised, the US Administration would have welcomed such an arrangement as it would have enabled it to get on with what it is good at.

This is the largest blow a United Nations body has taken in terms of the loss of personnel on the ground. I associate myself with the sympathies already expressed on that matter. Nevertheless the UN presence, which numbered 7,000 before the earthquake and until the point the hurricane hit, was perceived by many as not so much preparing for a new Haiti and moving on towards reconciliation but keeping people quiet by suppressing all the different political opinions. New skills are required, not just in logistics but in how one reconstructs a place, taking history into account while creating models for the future. There is a role for applied political science in this regard and there is an opportunity to create new balances among the neighbours in this region. The Dominican Republic had a special relationship with the Bush regime but that is now changed and the Obama regime is trying to create a new international image for the United States.

The positive actions of Irish donors, including NGOs and the Irish Government, have been of immense value to the reputation of our country.

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