Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 453: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs to confirm if aid is being sent by the Government to Central American nations following the recent disaster. [28883/05]

Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 454: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the aid that is being sent to assist the relief effort following the earthquake in Pakistan. [28884/05]

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 453 and 454 together.

We have all been shocked and saddened by the destruction wreaked by the natural disasters which hit Pakistan and Central America. I made a detailed statement on the Government's response to these crises during the special Dáil debate on the matter last Wednesday.

With regard to northern Pakistan and affected neighbouring areas, Ireland has allocated €3 million to assist in the immediate relief effort. I have been closely following the situation since the earthquake on Saturday, 8 October. In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, I pledged €1 million towards relief efforts in northern Pakistan and the surrounding regions at a time when the first estimates of casualties were only a fraction of the current assessments. I remained in contact over the following days with the Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, other colleagues in Government, my senior officials and key individuals such as the Ambassador of Pakistan, H.E. Mr. Toheed Ahmad, and representatives of the Pakistani community in Ireland.

Following an updated assessment of the situation on Monday, 10 October, I made a further pledge of €2 million, to bring to €3 million the amount pledged by Ireland in assistance to the region. A total of €1.2 million of this funding has been allocated to UN agencies, including UNICEF, the World Health Organisation and the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs. A sum of €300,000 has been allocated to the International Federation of the Red Cross. Up to €1.5 million is available for non-governmental organisations which are active in the provision of services on the ground. Priority areas in the relief effort have been identified by the United Nations as health, nutrition, logistics, shelter, camp management, water and sanitation, protection, information and telecommunications and recovery.

With respect to the humanitarian emergency situation in Central America, Ireland has been liaising with the UN, the International Red Cross and Irish non-governmental organisations, working directly or through partners in the area, to define immediate needs. Severe flooding made worse by the remnants of Hurricane Stan has deluged vast areas of Central America, including El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In response to this appalling disaster, I have allocated funding of €1 million for humanitarian relief. These funds are being allocated among the Red Cross, the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs and non-governmental organisations providing services locally.

On a global funding basis, in 2005 Ireland has already made separate contributions of over €9.5 million to the UN High Commission for Refugees and €3 million to UNICEF for their worldwide operations. These funds are deliberately not earmarked to ensure that they can be utilised quickly and effectively for emergency and humanitarian planning and rapid responses by these key UN agencies. Over €2 million was released to the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Activities to facilitate that agency's capacity to co-ordinate relief efforts. Our early funding provides much needed cash flow for these agencies so that they are better equipped to deal with sudden-onset emergencies.

Funding to develop NGO capacity has also been made available through the multiannual programme scheme, which offers predictable funding over a period of years around which the NGOs can plan. This type of funding has helped them to respond to major humanitarian emergencies in a more effective and timely manner.

We will continue to monitor the situation in both of these regions closely, with the assistance of UN agencies and partner organisations, particularly in the NGO community, to ensure that our assistance is being effectively targeted.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 455: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the call by a person (details supplied) for western Governments to donate €500,000 to move Roma refugees out of lead-contaminated camps in Kosovo; and if the Government will make this donation. [29106/05]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I am aware of the concern expressed by the special representative of the UN Secretary General in Kosovo and head of the United Nations interim administration mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, Mr Soren Jessen-Petersen, at the conditions in which many displaced families from minority Serb, Roma and other communities are still living in Kosovo and in neighbouring regions of Serbia. I share his specific concerns regarding the conditions in which Roma families are living in northern Kosovo, including the effect on their health of emissions from a toxic waste dump in the area.

Mr. Jessen-Petersen has stated that €1.3 million is required to enable the relocation of these families. In July, Ireland agreed to provide funding of €250,000 to the Roma Mahala project, administered by UNMIK, which is intended to achieve this. This amount has been pledged over two years; €100,000 in 2005 and €150,000 in 2006.

The issue of displaced persons from the conflict must be resolved if there is to be a truly multiethnic society in Kosovo, as provided for under UN Security Council Resolution 1244. UNMIK, with the full support of the EU, is seeking to uphold the right of all internally displaced persons in Kosovo to return to their homes. Realistically, this will not be fully achieved in the absence of substantial political progress.

Kosovo has been under UN administration since the end of the conflict in June 1999, in accordance with UNSCR 1244. The UN Secretary General has appointed a special representative, Ambassador Kai Eide of Norway, to prepare a comprehensive review of the implementation of reforms based on European standards in Kosovo. Last week Ambassador Eide presented his report to the UN Secretary General in New York and I look forward to the Security Council's consideration of the report in the near future. It is widely expected that there will be a decision to open a process to agree the constitutional status of Kosovo.