Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

Cyclone Nargis struck Burma-Myanmar on 2 and 3 May 2008 with winds up to 200 km/h, sweeping through the delta region and the country's main city and former capital, Yangon. Damage from the cyclone was most severe in the delta region, where the effects of extreme winds were compounded by a sizable storm surge that destroyed an estimated 95% of housing.

Yangon sustained a direct hit, which downed power and communications lines, and inflicted major damage to buildings. Even now, more than two weeks after the storm, people remain largely without electricity, piped water and communications. Many roads into and out of the city, as well as vital roads into the delta region, are still blocked by flooding or debris. For much of the delta region, the most significant transportation is normally by waterway, and water transport infrastructure has been severely damaged.

The toll of people killed, missing, or affected remains difficult to assess, with the numbers continuing to increase daily. The UN estimates that more than 100,000 have died and almost 2 million are in need of assistance. To make matters worse, further strong rains are forecast. Some 24 million people, approximately 50% of the population, live in the cyclone-affected areas. On account of the season, a major crop loss is not envisaged, but huge swathes of fertile agricultural land were inundated with salty water and will require significant time to return to normal.

Enormous challenges are involved in mounting a logistics operation of the scale required to deliver sufficient levels of assistance to affected communities. However, the major challenge to an effective response has not been created by nature, but by man. It is the reluctance of the Government of Burma to accept international humanitarian assistance. In the days after the cyclone, the Burmese Government refused to issue visas for international humanitarian workers and refused to allow humanitarian supplies to enter the country.

As time passes, there is an increasing risk of serious health problems among vulnerable communities, particularly as a result of Government imposed delays in the provision of necessary aid. It is feared that malaria transmission will significantly increase and epidemics will occur in many areas. In addition, lack of access to safe drinking water and the near total absence of sanitation in affected areas will increase the risk of diarrhoeal diseases, including cholera.

The denial and impeding of access has compounded what was already a severe natural disaster. It was more than one week after the crisis before supplies seemed finally to be getting through, although the quantity is still nowhere near enough to meet the needs of the affected population. Even when supplies have arrived in the country, the government has curtailed their distribution, often insisting on taking control itself. This occurs despite the fact that, access permitted, the international humanitarian community has greater capacity and the necessary experience to distribute supplies effectively.

The Government in Burma has also continued to enforce its restrictive visa policy. Some aid workers who have managed to obtain visas have been turned back at the airport. Visas that have been issued have, in some instances, been for very short periods only, effectively rendering them useless. Delivery of humanitarian aid in a crisis such as this is a complex task. Without experienced international staff, delivery will not be as effective. There have been some reports in recent days that the Government of Burma-Myanmar has agreed to relax some of its restrictions on aid and relief workers from certain Asian countries. While this would be a welcome development, we must wait to see if it allows in more supplies and staff.

Last week, the EU Presidency convened a special emergency meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations Council to underline the severity of this crisis. It is noteworthy that the terrorist attack of 11 September 2001 and the tsunami were the most recent occasions to give rise to the convening of such an extraordinary Council meeting. In its conclusions the Council, inter alia, considered that without the co-operation of the authorities in Burma an even greater tragedy is threatened; fully shared the deep concern recently expressed by the UN Secretary General and UN bodies to help meet the humanitarian needs of the Burmese people; stressed its strong support for the efforts of the UN, the Red Cross and Red Crescent movements and NGOs to bring aid to the people of Burma and underlined the point that the effective delivery of aid must be monitored by expert humanitarian staff; and, while welcoming recent albeit limited improvements on the ground, called on the authorities in Burma to offer free and unfettered access to international humanitarian experts, including the expeditious delivery of visa and travel permits.

The Council also expressed support for the visit to the region by the EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel. During his visit to Yangon last week, Commissioner Michel met with several Ministers and sought progress from the competent Burmese authorities in ensuring access by humanitarian aid workers to the country and to the affected areas. Issues he raised included visa extensions for humanitarian workers and access to the affected area for international relief staff.

Ireland has been to the fore in calling for full and free access to the affected areas for relief supplies and workers and Irish embassies in neighbouring countries have made representations seeking their assistance in getting access for the international relief effort. Ireland will continue to use its diplomatic influence to improve the access for both humanitarian supplies and workers.

The United Nations Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mr. John Holmes, arrived in Burma on Sunday. While there he pressed the Burmese authorities for more access for UN workers in the relief effort. Earlier, he met regional partners and members of the humanitarian community to discuss how they can assist the Burmese Government in scaling up its relief activities. UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon is expected to visit the country tomorrow. We are hopeful that after his visit there will be an improvement in the access situation.

Some of our European partners have raised the possibility of invoking the "responsibility to protect" agreement, secured at the UN World Summit in 2005 as a means of intervening directly even without the consent of the Burmese Government. We would support any initiative which would bring aid more effectively to those in need but it appears very unlikely that the necessary agreement could be found within the Security Council to act in this manner. Frustrating as it is, there may be no practical alternative to continuing to press the Burmese Government to allow in the necessary supplies and international expertise. The obstruction of the international aid effort by the Government of Burma is unacceptable and I call on it to immediately lift all obstacles to the delivery of urgent, life-saving assistance. Every day and hour is critical. Thousands of lives can still be saved.

There has been one positive development this week. The foreign ministers of the Association of South East Asian Nations, ASEAN, in their meeting in Singapore on Monday seem to have prevailed on the Burmese authorities to promise to accept increased international aid for the cyclone victims provided it is channelled through regional personnel and organisations. We await their implementation of this undertaking.

The Irish Government's response has been rapid and effective. The Government immediately made an initial pledge of €1 million for emergency relief. This is being channelled through established partners in emergency response, such as NGOs, UN agencies and the Red Cross. We are ready to respond further. In addition to this direct support to the emergency response, Ireland is also providing support through its substantial annual contributions to two key international funds designed specifically to provide immediate finance in response to sudden onset emergencies of this kind, namely the UN central emergency response fund, CERF, and the Red Cross managed disaster relief emergency fund, DREF. Both funds, which were established to make financial aid available to their respective organisations to facilitate rapid response to humanitarian emergencies, have already released significant funds to this crisis. This year, Ireland is the sixth largest contributor to the UN's CERF with a contribution of €22.6 million and the second largest contributor to the Red Cross DREF with a contribution of €2 million.

On Saturday, 10 May we dispatched an airlift of essential humanitarian supplies from our stockpiles at the UN's humanitarian response base in Brindisi, Italy. The airlift, which was co-ordinated by the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA and shared with Norway, landed in Yangon on Sunday 11 May. On board were large quantities of essential non-food supplies such as plastic sheeting for temporary shelter, blankets, kitchen sets and mosquito nets as well as tents, water tanks and water purification equipment provided by Norway. The supplies have been cleared and are to be distributed to affected communities. Irish supplies formed part of an earlier airlift last week shared with the Italian Government, which also pre-positions supplies in Brindisi. We are ready to make further shipments of our supplies if requested and access arrangements permit.

I have asked that our rapid response corps be put on standby for early deployment. The corps is a roster of skilled and experienced volunteers who make themselves available to deploy at short notice to humanitarian emergencies. If requested, members of the corps will be deployed to work with our partners, the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, the World Food Programme and the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UNOCHA. My officials remain in ongoing contact with our partners who have a presence on the ground in Burma and those who are co-ordinating the response from Bangkok to obtain regularly updated information on the needs of affected communities.

The further tragedy of Cyclone Nargis is that it is a natural catastrophe piled upon the man-made catastrophe that has already engulfed the people of Burma, created by the ruling military regime.