Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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8. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he is aware that the El Niño weather pattern is expected to wreak havoc this year; that the United Nations has warned that 11 million children are at risk from hunger, disease and lack of water in eastern and southern Africa alone; that in west Africa conditions are aligning in a similar way to the massive 1972 drought that devastated the Sahel with famine; what his Department is doing to prepare for these events and to mitigate the effects of the humanitarian crisis before it hits. [45393/15]

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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El Niño is a periodic, worldwide weather phenomenon caused by the Pacific Ocean warming. This year’s pattern is more extreme than it has been for decades and expected to wreak havoc. The European Union has warned that 11 million people are at risk from hunger, disease and lack of water in eastern and southern Africa alone. In west Africa conditions are emerging similar to the severe 1972 drought which devastated the Sahel with famine. During the event drying winds from El Niño tipped the region into full blown drought. I have tabled the question to find out what plans Irish Aid has in place to deal with these expected humanitarian crises and mitigate them before they strike fully.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I thank the Deputy for the question. The current El Niño weather event is one of the strongest ever measured. More unpredictable weather conditions are already having a detrimental effect on people’s lives and livelihoods across Africa, particularly in the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region. In the next six months humanitarian needs will increase, with severe droughts and flooding. Below normal rainfall and drought conditions have already affected parts of Ethiopia, Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea, reducing agricultural production. Excessive rainfall is affecting parts of Ethiopia, Somalia and other countries, causing severe and sustained flooding, loss of livelihoods and disease outbreaks.

Irish Aid, the Government’s overseas development assistance programme, is stepping up its preparedness to respond.

Our long-term development programme in countries such as Ethiopia includes funding for a large social protection programme for the most vulnerable households. We are also scaling up humanitarian responses to reduce the impact on households and save lives in the worst affected places. In Ethiopia alone in 2015, Ireland has increased its bilateral programme to nearly €28 million in response to the humanitarian crisis. We are providing an additional €1.8 million in humanitarian assistance through non-governmental organisation, NGO, partners.

In total, Ireland has provided over €80 million in humanitarian assistance in 2015 and this budget will be increased to over €100 million for 2016. We are allocating additional resources across affected countries to support programmes which save lives, improve food security, protect livelihoods and build the resilience of people to withstand the effects of such a weather event across Africa. We will continue to monitor the position closely and scale up action as El Niño strengthens and conditions on the ground worsen.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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It is welcome that there will be additional funding. The concern is that the world does not seem to pay attention to the advance warning of these humanitarian crises and does not act until it sees horrific images on television or computer screens. Oxfam has stated the world must move faster than in the past to help drought stricken regions of Africa. In 2011 warnings were issued months in advance and food shortages are not the only problem. Droughts and flooding can have other health effects such as outbreaks of cholera, typhoid and diaorrheal diseases in many areas. An estimated 10.2 million people, more than one tenth of the population of Ethiopia, need humanitarian aid because of the lack of basic food after the latest failed harvests. Will the Minister of State assure us that there will be food stocks in that region? What other support can we give to the people of the region? The Minister of State has mentioned extra funding, but the hurricane coming down the track will have a negative impact on millions of people in the region.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Ireland’s bilateral relationship with Ethiopia is very strong. Official Ethiopian Government figures for January 2016 indicate that 10.2 million people will require food assistance, in addition to the 7.9 million receiving food and cash transfers as part of the productive safety nets programme. Ireland is one of the core funders of the programme through Irish Aid and the embassy. We have been doing this since 2005. There are financial resources required to deal with this issue. This is the third largest humanitarian emergency globally, behind those in Syria and Yemen. It is estimated that approximately US$1.8 billion is required to cover the cost of emergency interventions. We will continue to work with multilateral partners such as the UN agencies and on a bilateral basis. We have increased the commitment to Ethiopia because this involves protecting small stakeholder farmers and their families. There are knock-on consequences in terms of in uterodevelopment which is having a major effect on malnutrition and under-nutrition. We will continue to monitor the position.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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One could argue that the crises in Syria and Yemen are man-made, but it could be argued also that this weather phenomenon is caused by climate change. At the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked whether this issue would be raised at the December meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council. Did the Irish contingent at that meeting raise the issue? What is the response going to be?

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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There is due to be a meeting of Development Ministers in January. I am not entirely sure if it was raised in December, but I will check for the Deputy.

It is fair to say that in our response to the crisis in Ethiopia we are punching above our weight. Through the bilateral aid programme we have provided €3.8 million to help meet the immediate humanitarian need. I met the President of the Tigray region two weeks ago when he was in Ireland and I have visited the country on several occasions. We see this as a major humanitarian crisis and the Irish response to it is measuring up. We are working hand in hand with Trócaire, Goal and Concern, our NGO partners on the ground. We have provided them with €1.8 million in humanitarian assistance. We continue to monitor and respond as needs arise.