Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State's reply. My other question concerned the Minister of State's European counterparts. Will he raise the issue with them, given the fact they have pledged this money but it does not seem to be appearing? Is the Minister of State surprised the Red Cross head of operations has said only €2 million of the EU's €1.1 billion has gone to that organisation? There were reports yesterday that burial workers in Sierra Leone's third city dumped dead bodies in the street as a protest over not being paid in the past seven weeks. The Ebola virus has now killed over 5,500 people despite the huge sum of money that has been pledged. If the burial workers, who are a key component in terms of stopping this virus, are not being paid, this is a difficulty, particularly in Sierra Leone, which has seen an increase in infections in recent weeks.

Is any of Ireland's assistance going towards the staving off of possible famine and food shortages, given we are hearing that crops are not being planted? The agricultural workforce in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have been badly hit by the outbreak, and while hunger has already been an issue in these countries, it could be devastating in the coming months.

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