Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 404: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs his response to the earthquake in Haiti; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3045/10]

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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The entire world has been deeply moved by the plight of the Haitian people following the earthquake there. The devastation wrought and the impact on peoples' lives were made all the worse by the levels of poverty experienced by most Haitians. The Haitian Government reports that more than 150,000 are dead, although that number could rise as reports from outside of Port-au-Prince are collated. There has been widespread destruction of infrastructure, including to schools and hospitals. Water and electricity supplies were severely damaged and there is growing concern about the spread of disease. Following the completion of search and rescue operations, attention now is focused fully on helping the survivors of the earthquake.

The Government responded immediately and within hours of the earthquake, Irish Aid was in contact with NGOs such as Concern and Goal to make emergency funding available to these organisations. On the day following the earthquake, we pledged €2m to support the initial emergency relief effort. To date, €300,000 each has already been disbursed to the World Food Programme and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) which is coordinating the international relief effort. A further €250,000 was paid out to the Red Cross.

The Government also freighted 84 tonnes of essential shelter, water and sanitation equipment to Haiti from our emergency stockpiles. These arrived on 21 January and were distributed by Concern and Goal. Yesterday I announced a further shipment of 40 tonnes at the recommendation of an Irish Aid technical team which travelled to Haiti in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake. This team was tasked with assessing the humanitarian situation in Haiti and recommending how Ireland should focus its contribution to the international relief effort. It identified a continued urgent need for emergency shelter and water supplies and this second shipment will help to address these needs.

In addition to these contributions, two members of the Irish Aid Rapid Response Corps have deployed to Haiti. The two concerned, an IT expert and an electrical engineer, have been assigned to the World Food Programme. Others, with skills in areas such as logistics, water and sanitation and child protection, are on stand-by. The Rapid Response Corps is a 130-strong group of highly-specialised volunteers available at short notice to humanitarian organisations in need of their skills. It was established following the 2004 tsunami.

The total value of the Government response both financially and in kind is more than €3 million. It is likely that this will increase further once we have a clearer and more comprehensive picture of Haiti's needs. Our funding forms part of a €122 million humanitarian response by the European Union, agreed at an emergency meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, which I attended last week. At that meeting the European Commission also pledged €300 million for the longer term reconstruction of Haiti in advance of an international donor meeting planned for the spring. Ireland will consider its role in reconstruction in the light of the report of our technical team and a thorough assessment of Haiti's medium and long term needs.