Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Ross and I shall take up the last point first. The reality is that what Zimbabwe and its people need more than anything else is proper governance. That is a reality. The Senator also asked about the international community. I shall talk later about the specific financial provisions we are making. We and our European partners are using our influence to the fullest to press for urgently needed policy change in Zimbabwe, as the Senator will know. For example, EU foreign ministers at the General Affairs and External Relations Council yesterday extended the restrictive measures against the Administration of President Mugabe and his followers. There is a reality that we want to make certain that any measures taken strike a balance and do not worsen the lot of people who have suffered more than enough.

This is an ideal opportunity to emphasise again that the privations the people of Zimbabwe are suffering are not just a concern of Government but are a matter of general concern throughout this country. The Government certainly shares the widespread concern about the devastating impact of the recent cholera outbreak. As the House will be aware, cholera is a highly infectious intestinal disease spread by contaminated food and water. The tragedy, as Senator Ross has said, is that it is so easily contained. Zimbabwe is now facing an outbreak of unprecedented levels which has taken the lives of almost 600 people in recent months. Almost 14,000 have been treated for the disease and it is becoming a major problem in the adjoining territories. Basic service delivery systems in Zimbabwe have begun to collapse over the past eight weeks. Schools and hospitals are closing, patients cannot access health care and teachers, nurses and doctors have been unable to work. Urban water supplies are erratic or non-existent owing to weakened infrastructure.

The Government has been seriously concerned for a considerable time about the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe and we have been responding consistently to the needs of the people. Ireland has been one of the largest international per capita donors to Zimbabwe this year. Since 2006 Ireland has provided €11 million in humanitarian aid directly to the people there. This has been mainly for food relief, school feeding programmes, health care provision and support to people displaced by government urban clearance programmes. It is delivered through non-governmental organisations.

In response to the worsening humanitarian situation, the Government is allocating €500,000 for the people of Zimbabwe, through the UN Emergency Response Fund, bringing total humanitarian funding to more than €3.3 million in 2008. The fund is operated by the UN humanitarian co-ordinator in Zimbabwe and I am confident this is the best way to get aid to the people. We have also authorised GOAL to use €108,000 in money allocated to it by Irish Aid for emergencies to target the cholera outbreak. In addition to this emergency funding, since 2006 the Government has provided €7.2 million in funding for longer-term development through NGOs and missionaries. This assistance has been focused on improving the lives of people in Zimbabwe living with HIV and AIDS.

At the beginning of the cholera outbreak, a member of the Irish Aid rapid response corps was already in Zimbabwe working with UNICEF as a child protection officer. The rapid response corps was created to provide exactly this type of essential support to our key humanitarian partners in emergency situations.

I want to make a small point that is very much my own view. It is not just the international community but more specifically the community in Africa must react to what is happening in Zimbabwe. The regime in that country would not survive were it not receiving at least tacit support from neighbours and it is time that Africa spoke out in defence of its own people. It would produce a negative response were Europe to take the lead in that regard. Europe cannot do that without the people in Africa. There have been indications in recent days that there will be a reaction from some of the neighbouring countries, and I suspect the final point the Senator is making is that this stage has been reached.

I also share the Senator's concern about Jestina Mukoko. That a person involved as a human rights defender can effectively disappear into thin air is yet another tragedy heaped on top of people who have suffered more than sufficient tragedies to date. The Senator can be assured, however, that both within the European Council and in terms of our own bilateral arrangements, we are concerned and share his concern for the people of a very troubled country.