Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 135: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the progress made on the establishment of a rapid response initiative; the level of involvement from the Department of Defence in this initiative; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13018/06]

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is now engaged in planning a more operational and value added response to humanitarian crises, through the development of a distinctively Irish rapid response initiative, RRI. This initiative includes the pre-positioning and transportation of humanitarian supplies to disaster areas; the availability of a roster of highly skilled and experienced individuals, including from the Defences Forces, for deployment at short notice to situations of great need; and enhancing our support for international humanitarian response agencies and mechanisms.

In the context of the reform of the United Nations to make it a more efficient and effective global mechanism, a number of gaps have been identified in terms of its ability to respond to humanitarian crises. A number of these were specified in the UN Secretary General's report, In Larger Freedom. Moreover, the UN's emergency humanitarian co-ordinator, Jan Egeland, commissioned a review of UN's response mechanisms, the Humanitarian Response Review, which detailed where those gaps lie.

The RRI is very much a part of our strong support for the UN and its programme of reform and a response to the needs set out in both these important reports. It is also a full recognition of the importance which the public places in the need to respond rapidly and effectively to emergencies and disasters. The truly amazing generosity of the public to the tsunami at the end of 2004 is a clear indication of the desire to save and protect lives.

My Department is taking the lead on the RRI. My officials are working closely with counterparts in the Department of Defence, the Irish Defence Forces, and other relevant Departments to plan, co-ordinate and launch this initiative. We are also in close contact with non-governmental organisations, NGOs, working in emergencies. The effective mobilisation of the skills, knowledge and resources that exist across the public sector and in the public sphere is essential to the successful implementation of all of the elements of the RRI.

A logistics and humanitarian specialist has been engaged by my Department to assist with the pre-positioning of humanitarian supplies. The specialist, in close consultation with my officials, is preparing and costing a plan for the pre-positioning of supplies to include storage, handling and transport of the supplies. This includes detailed consideration of the quantity and nature of the items to be pre-positioned; the optimal locations; and the logistic and programmatic support required to transport and deliver the supplies. Possible partnerships with other countries and organisations are also being considered with a view to achieving maximum cost effectiveness and efficiency. We are drawing upon the experiences and lessons learned of relevant actors such as large non-governmental organisations, NGOs, donor agencies, and the United Nations.

My Department is also progressing work on the establishment of a humanitarian rapid response roster. Discussions in this regard have taken place, and are ongoing, with a number of United Nations agencies, including United Nations volunteers, UNV, which operates a personnel roster which deploys to the major UN agencies responding to humanitarian crises as they arise. It will be important to ensure that the roster is made up of highly skilled individuals with the ability to work in the complex and demanding environment of humanitarian crises with UN agencies and NGOs. The profile of such experts is developed on the basis of consultation with our key partner agencies and NGOs.

A number of discussions have also taken place on the enhancement of Ireland's support to key humanitarian response agencies through targeted support for standby arrangements and organisational capacity building for humanitarian response. In this context, Ireland has recently contributed €10 million to the UN's central emergency response fund to strengthen its ability to deal with humanitarian crises.