Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 339: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the overall expenditure made in respect of aid activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the years 2008 and 2009. [12854/09]

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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Following four decades of economic decline and ten years of nearly continuous conflict, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. It ranks among the world's least developed countries, with a position of 177 out of 179 countries on the UN's 2008 Human Development Index.

In 2008, Ireland provided over €12.4 million in assistance to the DRC. €7 million of this support was channelled through the Common Humanitarian Fund, a UN administered pooled fund which supports both UN agencies and NGOs in addressing the most immediate humanitarian and life-saving needs, including in eastern DRC where the situation in particularly acute. €1.5 million was provided to NGO partners for specific humanitarian interventions. €3.8 million in funding was channelled to NGOs in the DRC for development projects in a range of areas such as basic education, primary health care, water and sanitation, and community rural development.

In December 2008, an airlift of emergency relief supplies from our stocks held at the UN depot in Brindisi was made to eastern DRC. The airlift, which consisted of blankets and plastic sheeting, helped provide temporary shelter for 6,000 vulnerable families displaced by violence. In addition, a member of Ireland's Rapid Response Corps was recently working as a logistics officer in the DRC with the UN World Food Programme. To date in 2009, Ireland has allocated a total of over €4.1 million in emergency funding to the DRC via the UN administered pooled fund and through our NGO partners. A further €2.8 million has been allocated to NGO partners for development projects.