Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 106: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the progress made with the commitment given in the programme for Government to increase the size and capacity of the rapid response corps, the civilian corps of volunteers trained and equipped by the Government to be on the ground in an area of humanitarian crisis in a short period. [20298/08]

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Following the launch of the campaign to recruit a Rapid Response Corps in February, 2007, 52 volunteers were recruited, and completed their pre-deployment training and preparations during 2007. A second campaign to recruit members to the Rapid Response Corps began on 14 February, 2008. This campaign focused mainly on the logistics, engineering and humanitarian skills most in demand by our stand-by partners. However, new public health, protection and education profiles were added at the request of those partners.

From this campaign a further 36 volunteers were invited to join the Corps. A group of 24 completed the compulsory pre-departure training course from 7-14 May and have begun the necessary medical preparations. This will bring the number of Corps members ready to deploy if requested to 76. A further pre-departure training course is scheduled for early October, 2008. In building the capacity of the Corps, Irish Aid has facilitated the attendance by 24 members of the Corps on training courses designed and delivered by our humanitarian partners. This is a policy which will be actively pursued in the future. In addition, Irish Aid arranges separate workshops for Rapid Response Corps members on topics of relevance for humanitarian response. To date, there have been 12 deployments of the Corps, the most recent in early May to Darfur, Sudan. Other Corps members have been deployed to Sri Lanka, Somalia, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Nepal and Ethiopia.

Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 107: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the progress made with the commitment given in the programme for Government to double the amount of emergency relief supplies held in, and distributed from, Ireland's new pre-positioned humanitarian relief centres at the Curragh, Kildare and Brindisi, Italy. [20299/08]

Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 108: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the progress made with the commitment given in the programme for Government to increase funding to the regional supply depot for Africa, based in Accra, Ghana. [20300/08]

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to take Questions Nos. 107 and 108 together.

Irish Aid entered into a Letter of Agreement with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in October, 2006. Under this agreement, the WFP was tasked with the set up, procurement, management and transportation to the field of Ireland's stocks of essential humanitarian supplies. By mid 2007, essential non-food supplies — blankets, tents, jerry cans, water tanks, kitchen sets, etc — were pre-positioned at the central UN Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) in Brindisi, Italy and at a smaller facility provided by the Defence Forces at the Curragh Camp.

In 2007, disbursals involving Irish supplies were made to emergencies in Sudan, Peru, Pakistan, Mali, Uganda and Burkina Faso. Already in 2008, there has been a significant increase in the rate of uptake of our stocks, with emergency shipments to Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and, most recently, Burma/Myanmar. An airlift to China will take place within the next few days and a large shipment to Iraq is at the planning stage. All these stocks will be replenished. Further increases in the level of humanitarian supplies will be made possible when the new central UNHRD in Dubai becomes fully operational. We plan in due course to move our supplies to the new Depot. This will enable more rapid and effective disbursal of stocks, particularly to emergencies in South East Asia, the Middle East, and North and East Africa.

Under the terms of the 2006 Letter of Agreement with the WFP, Irish Aid makes an annual contribution of €400,000 towards the annual operating costs of the UNHRD hub for Africa based in Accra. Up to now, this hub has been housed in temporary premises. In 2008, Irish Aid made an additional contribution to the WFP of €600,000 towards the construction of a new facility which is now expected to be completed by the end of 2008. When completed, we will pre-position additional supplies at this Depot, enabling faster delivery of supplies within Africa.

Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 109: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the progress made in regard to the commitment given in the programme for Government to increase funding by at least €40 million to the Irish Government emergency response fund and increase funding to the UN central emergency response fund. [20301/08]

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The programme for Government envisages an increase in funding for Ireland's response to humanitarian emergencies in the amount €40 million during the lifetime of the Government. Funding for humanitarian emergencies arises from a number of budgetary headings in Irish Aid, though the Emergency Humanitarian Assistance Fund (EHAF) is Irish Aid's primary source of such funding. In 2007, in response to the increasing number and severity of humanitarian emergencies, the allocation was increased by 50% from €60 million to €90 million. This substantial increase approved in 2007 clearly signals the Government's commitment towards increasing Ireland's response to humanitarian emergencies and is fully in line with the undertakings contained in the programme for Government.

Ireland was one of the driving forces behind the introduction of the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and remains one of its strongest supporters. The CERF enables the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) to respond immediately to any sudden on-set emergency. In 2007 we doubled our contribution to the CERF from €10 million to €20 million making Ireland the sixth largest donor to the CERF. In 2008, we further increased our contribution by a further 13% to €22.6 million. This brings Ireland's total contribution to the CERF since its inception to €52.6 million. This is fully in line with the undertakings contained in the programme for Government.

Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 110: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the progress made in regard to the commitment given in the programme for Government to work to strengthen the capacity of Irish and international non-governmental organisations to respond more quickly to international emergencies. [20302/08]

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

An important element of the Government's Rapid Response Initiative is a commitment to provide funding to our Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO), Red Cross and UN partners to assist them in enhancing their capacity to respond to international emergencies. To that end, over €4.75 million has been provided since 2007 to our main international and national partners to help them build their organisational capacity to respond to and prepare for humanitarian emergencies. Of that amount, almost €1.1 million has been provided to Irish NGOs primarily for humanitarian staff development and training purposes.

An initiative was also implemented in 2007 on a two year pilot basis to assist our main NGO partners respond more rapidly to international emergencies. The initiative provides each of our three main NGO partners — Concern, Trócaire and Goal — with their own rapid response fund which they can immediately access following an emergency. This major rapid response initiative will be evaluated in 2009.