Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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I congratulate Deputy Barrett on his appointment as foreign affairs spokesperson. I acknowledge the merits of the proposal referred to by the Deputy which aims to harness the skills and experience of Irish people facing a period of unemployment to benefit communities in the developing world. The Government is open to consideration of innovative approaches which would enhance Ireland's national contribution to the achievement of the millennium development goals. We have paid particular attention over the past 18 months to the encouragement of volunteering in the developing world. Through the aid programme, which is administered by Irish Aid in the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Government is funding the work of some 1,300 development workers, volunteers and missionaries in developing countries. Their work is an important and greatly valued aspect of the overall Irish contribution towards the achievement of the millennium development goals by 2015.

Our support for volunteering recognises the unique contribution volunteers can make to development. The Irish Aid volunteering and information centre in Dublin was established in 2008 to promote and facilitate responsible volunteering. Since April of last year the centre has organised four volunteering fairs - three in Dublin and one in Cork - to highlight and promote opportunities to volunteer with the main development and humanitarian agencies and non-governmental organisations. More than 1,000 people have attended the fairs, the most recent of which was held in September. Twenty-seven volunteering organisations participated, recruiting teachers, medical personnel, engineers and other volunteers to work on construction in developing countries.

Irish Aid is working closely with volunteering organisations to identify placements which will promote development in the poorest countries and provide volunteers with an opportunity to make a real contribution in the fight against poverty and hunger. It is important to ensure that all volunteering assignments are suited to an individual's capacity and experience and are of benefit to the community they travel to in the developing world. It is also important to address possible health, safety and security risks and to ensure volunteers and the organisations they work with recognise the complexity of the challenge of working in some of the poorest countries in the world.

The Government has also established a rapid response corps to enable members of the public with specific skills to assist in humanitarian crises, such as the recovery effort following the earthquake in Haiti in January. Members of the corps have specialised skills in areas such as logistics, engineering, and water and sanitation and are available for secondment at short notice to the United Nations and other humanitarian organisations in emergency situations. The Department of Foreign Affairs is working to expand the expertise available to the corps, and a new recruitment round will be held in 2011.

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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Of course the Deputy is right. It is not just about euro or dollars. The Deputy mentioned education. The greatest progress in the millennium goals has been in the area of education. However, it was not achieved by transplanting teachers from Ireland to developing countries but by building up their inherent education systems and providing training colleges and trainers of teachers as well as the schools themselves.

I do not think a new statutory body is the way to go. We have a structured way, through funding of NGOs, where people are invited to come in and use their skills. We are also funding specialist placement organisations, such as Voluntary Service Overseas, Suas, SERVE and the United Nations Volunteers organisation. These provide opportunities for people with skills to contribute in the way the Deputy is proposing. I welcome the fact that he is thinking outside the box in encouraging as many people as possible to volunteer but I do not think legislation is the way to go.