Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 136: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on whether the response time to natural disasters and other emergencies from the United Nations should be significantly improved in view of the experience with the recent earthquake in Pakistan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33559/05]

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Ireland was among the first countries to respond to the south Asia earthquake disaster. Within a few hours of the earthquake, €1 million was pledged towards immediate relief efforts in northern Pakistan and the surrounding regions. As the casualty figures rose dramatically, our response was increased to €5 million, placing Ireland as one of the highest donors to the disaster on a per capita basis. Ireland's rapid contribution has been warmly and broadly welcomed.

The UN response to the disaster was also rapid and its agencies quickly deployed in the field. UNICEF, for example, had pre-positioned supplies which it immediately disbursed. However, the logistical capacity of the UN was tested to its limits by the scale of the disaster and the nature of the terrain. The nature of the demands on the UN changed a number of times as needs shifted. The priority of search and rescue shifted to evacuation and the management of large camps for the 3 million people rendered homeless. The priority needs changed again as large numbers of injured arrived, often suffering from infections from untreated wounds. Now the priority is to rescue and sustain people before winter arrives. Indeed, all of these demands are now simultaneous to some degree.

In this extremely challenging context, I wish to commend all those involved in the humanitarian response, including the UN, the Red Cross and Red Crescent, the Governments of Pakistan and India and the NGOs on the ground, including Concern, Trócaire, GOAL and others.

There is no doubt, however, that the UN's response has been hampered by the inadequate response to the UN's appeal. The updated UN Flash Appeal for the region has called for nearly $550 million in funding for immediate relief needs. A little over €130 million has been pledged to date. Some of the pledges made by donors have yet to materialise into confirmed contributions. Even if all the pledges are confirmed, it still leaves a very considerable shortfall.

I support President Musharraf's call for more generous assistance, specifically from Islamic, EU and OECD states. I am pleased to report to the House that Ireland's pledge to the disaster has been fully committed. It is essential that pledges are honoured so that vital assistance can be delivered to save lives.

Strengthening the financial resources of the UN itself is one of the key ways of improving its rapid response capacity. The UN is proposing to create a new enhanced fund of some $500 million, which would allow for immediate and large grants to UN agencies rapidly responding to humanitarian disasters. Ireland fully supports this initiative and I have pledged €10 million in support of the proposed central emergency response fund, CERF.

The UN is only as strong as its member states and their commitment to help it and its agencies do their job in the field. The UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs co-ordinates the humanitarian interventions of UN agencies like UNICEF and the World Food Programme, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, international and national NGOs and, where appropriate and necessary, the use of heavy lift capacity by military forces. Ireland not only funds many of these organisations, but also measures to strengthen their own rapid response capacities.

Ireland is closely engaged in the work of the EU to improve civil protection and rapid response capability. The tsunami follow-up action plan has provided a range of options that are being pursued. The further development of the EU's rapid response capacity must complement and support the UN's primary role as co-ordinator in humanitarian disasters.

At the national level, we are examining ways in which the Government's rapid response to disasters and emergencies can be enhanced through a more direct and operational intervention. This has been under way to a limited extent already, for example, by the work of our Defence Forces personnel in the UN Joint Logistics Centre, which managed the logistical response to the tsunami. A number of options for enhancing our own rapid response have been identified and work on this is being actively pursued.

Rapid response to sudden-onset disasters is the key to saving lives. The number and scale of natural disasters this year reinforce the need for global resources to be mobilised and deployed rapidly to bring humanitarian relief on a large scale to anywhere in the world. Ireland will continue in its quick and flexible funding response to humanitarian disasters and its robust support for the primary role of the United Nations in co-ordinating the response of the international community. As Irish development assistance increases toward 0.7% by the target date of 2012, strengthening our humanitarian aid and supporting the capacity of the international community to respond rapidly and effectively will continue to feature prominently in our work.