Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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Question 126: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on purchasing a transport aircraft for the Air Corps as part of the overseas aid programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24703/07]

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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There are no plans, at this time, to purchase a transport aircraft for the Air Corps as part of Ireland's overseas aid programme. Such a purchase is unlikely to be a cost effective use of Irish Aid funding.

The current position is that the transportation of Ireland's supplies of essential, non-food relief items — which are stockpiled at the UN's humanitarian response base in Brindisi, Italy and at the Curragh Camp, Co. Kildare — is undertaken in accordance with a formal agreement between my Department and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) signed in October 2006.

I visited the Brindisi emergency warehouse on 19 July and, since that time, there have been shipments comprising Ireland's essential supplies to meet humanitarian needs following natural disasters in Pakistan, Sudan, Peru, Uganda, Burkina Faso and Mali.

Our shipments have, in most cases, been joint operations with other donor countries likeNorway and Italy. They have been undertaken as part of our agreement with the WFP. For such joint operations, packing lists, aircraft space and flight costs have been shared with the other donors. They have proven to be both an efficient and cost effective way of providing essential supplies to those people in real need in humanitarian emergencies.

While a review of Ireland's stockpiling process will be undertaken towards the end of 2008, it is my intention, at least until that time, to continue to transport our essential relief supplies in accordance with our agreement with the WFP.