Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms ever recorded, hit the Philippines on 8 November with devastating effects. Current estimates indicate that the Typhoon affected more than 14 million people, with almost 4 million remaining displaced, including approximately 1.5 million children. The full human toll of this disaster remains unclear but over 6,000 lives have been lost to date while almost 1800 people remain missing.

Ireland was amongst the first to respond to this disaster, providing immediate, life-saving assistance. Our contribution to date stands at over €4.1 million making us one of the most generous contributors to this relief effort on a per capita basis. Ireland’s support is making a real difference on the ground.

Over €2.6million in funding has been provided through our key NGO partners. This funding is being used for the provision of emergency food and non-food items; water, sanitation and hygiene; emergency health care and, protection of vulnerable women and children, and will benefit up to 50,000 households.

My colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Mr. Simon Coveney, T.D., has also authorised a contribution of €500,000 to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) to support FAO’s emergency activitiesto restore the livelihoods of farmers affected by the Typhoon.

To date, Ireland has authorised four airlifts of essential relief items from our emergency pre-positioned stocks, the most recent of which arrived in the Philippines on Monday, 2 December. This brings the total amount of essential relief items provided by Ireland to 166 tonnes, valued at approximately €967,000 in total. According to the latest figures, Ireland is the second largest contributor of emergency stocks through the UN World Food Programme (WFP) Humanitarian Response Depot system (second only to the World Food Programme itself). In addition, Ireland deployed five members of its Rapid Response Corps to the Philippines to assist UN relief teams there.

I authorised the deployment of the Government's technical mission which arrived in the Philippines on Thursday 28 November. The purpose of this mission was to obtain a detailed analysis of the longer-term needs of the worst affected regions and to explore ways in which Ireland can most effectively contribute to the recovery process and rebuild for the future.

The recommendations of the technical mission on how best Ireland can assist the Philippines recover from this terrible disaster in the medium to long term are currently under active consideration. Further financial assistance in 2014 will be considered on the basis of these recommendations.