Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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Question 39: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of members in the Irish Aid Rapid Response Corps; the location at which they were last deployed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8987/11]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The Rapid Response Corps was established in 2007 to provide a body of skilled and experienced volunteers for deployment at short notice to work with Irish Aid's humanitarian partner organisations in emergency situations overseas. One of the important lessons learned from the international response to the devastation of the 2004 Tsunami was that the mass deployment of volunteers, while well-intentioned, can often hamper relief efforts. Ireland's Rapid Response Corps was therefore designed to provide highly-specialised skills as rapidly as possible, as and when requested by the agencies leading the relief effort. This model is regarded as best practice internationally in responding to humanitarian crises.

At present, there are 155 people on the Rapid Response Corps roster, with specialised skills in logistics, engineering, telecommunications, humanitarian coordination and protection. Individual members of the Corps are deployed at the request of the UN and other humanitarian organisations which have identified a need for their specific skills.

Since 2007, there have been more than 122 deployments of the Corps to 33 countries. Members of the Corps are currently working in Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, Iraq, Nepal, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Uganda. Membership of the Corps is open to members of the public. The Department of Foreign Affairs generally holds at least one recruitment campaign each year. The 2011 recruitment programme began in March and is expected to add 40 new members to the roster, bringing to 195 the total number of volunteers available to deploy to humanitarian crises. New recruits will participate in induction training in May, which will include a course on personal security awareness, facilitated by the Defence Forces' UN Training School in the Curragh.