Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 241: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if, in view of the lack of progress in moving Roma refugees out of the toxic waste dump in which they have lived in Mitrovica, Kosovo, since 1999, he will consider increasing the funding the State has provided for this purpose to the full €500,000 requested from each western Government by the UN Secretary General in Kosovo; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11943/06]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I share the concerns expressed at the conditions in which many displaced families from minority Roma and other communities are still living in Kosovo and in neighbouring regions of Serbia. 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, are particularly poor. 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, stated that €1.3 million is required to enable the relocation of these displaced families.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Government, through Irish Aid, has pledged €250,000 to this project to date, and approximately €1.8 million in overall bilateral assistance to Kosovo over the past two years. My Department continues to follow this matter closely and will consider additional funding, if the UN authorities indicate that it is required.

Talks on the Kosovo status process are currently under way. In this context, together with EU colleagues, we have urged the provisional institutions of self-government to intensify efforts to achieve, in parallel with the status process, concrete and rapid progress on standards implementation, particularly regarding the protection of minority communities.