Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Question 63: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the food crisis in Ethiopia, reports of which, it is suggested, the Government may be trying to suppress although the UN's World Food Programme reports that it is receiving increasing reports of hunger related mortality; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34196/08]

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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I am aware of the recent increase in food insecurity in Ethiopia which is currently facing its most vulnerable period since the early 1980s because of a combination of food price inflation and drought. A number of regions in Ethiopia are particularly at risk because the cumulative effect of repeated shocks of this kind have left them especially vulnerable and without any means of coping.

While there had been some reports that the Government were initially less than frank about the real situation in some regions or districts, my understanding is that they are now more open about the seriousness of the situation.

My colleague Micheál Martin T.D., Minister for Foreign Affairs, raised the situation in Ethiopia with the UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, when they met on 26 September. The Under Secretary-General had just returned from a visit to Ethiopia and Minister Martin urged him to continue to provide every possible assistance and to maintain a careful watching brief on developments over the coming period.

Ethiopia is a partner country for Irish Aid and we are maintaining a particular focus within our programme on the issue of food security. Of our planned €36 million programme country budget this year, over €11 million is for the Productive Safety Nets Programme which provides cash and/or food to vulnerable households in return for work on projects targeted at reducing the vulnerability of their communities. Following the food crisis this year an additional €2 million from the programme country budget has been allocated for food security initiatives. In addition to the Country Programme, we have provided more than €2.1 million in humanitarian funding through a number of Irish NGOs to support the food insecure in Ethiopia.