Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 107: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the strength of the Rapid Response Corps; and his plans to increase the numbers involved. [3798/08]

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Sixty four volunteers were invited to become members of the Rapid Response Corps in 2007 following a rigorous selection and interview process. Fifty two of this group completed their pre-departure training and checks in the past year, and seven of those have already been deployed to various humanitarian crises worldwide. A further member will be deployed shortly. To date, Corps members have been deployed in Sri Lanka, Kenya, Somalia, Nepal, Mozambique, Tanzania and Sudan. They are making a valuable contribution to saving lives and rebuilding livelihoods.

A new campaign to recruit further members will be launched in February. The campaign will seek to recruit volunteers with the logistics, engineering and humanitarian skills most requested, together with new skills profiles identified to us, by our partner agencies. The next pre-deployment training course is scheduled for May.