Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I will answer Deputy Barrett's last question first. The answer is, specifically, no. The official development assistance that donor countries provide to developing countries and aid agencies is measured in euro and dollars. That is not to take away from the excellent work carried out in the name of Ireland by highly skilled and specialised people.

We have a corps not unlike the one proposed by the Deputy. It is our rapid response corps, which has been developed in the past 24 months, specifically to respond to emergency and humanitarian disasters. That corps identifies the type of people about whom the Deputy is talking. They are people with high skills and great experience in logistics, engineering, education and health delivery. These are the sorts of skills needed in the immediate aftermath of an emergency or crisis. One does not necessarily need hundreds of people very quickly but one needs highly skilled, effective and experienced people.

I am aware of the Australian model to which the Deputy refers. It also seeks to promote business people to engage in the developing world. Australia's developing world is Asia, which is in closest proximity to them. Ours is sub-Saharan Africa. Our way of promoting Irish people to engage with the sorts of skills about which the Deputy is talking is through voluntary non-governmental organisations. Since 2008, we are funding 3,000 people to get involved in those organisations, which we directly fund.

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