Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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1217. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the humanitarian assistance provided to date in 2014 to persons in need in Iraq in view of the very difficult circumstances that have pertained there for sometime; his plans to provide further assistance in 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34672/14]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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The situation in Iraq has deteriorated sharply in recent months, with the advance into large areas of northern and western Iraq by the Islamist militia, Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS). As a result of the fighting, hundreds of thousands of people have made their way to Iraq’s Kurdistan region or to contested areas inside the Ninewah Governorate. Tens of thousands more are displaced within Al-Anbar province. Some have reportedly fled across the border into Syria,and from there, many have crossed back into Iraq’s Kurdistan region. It is estimated that there are now 1.8 million people displaced within the country, and many of them are at very significant risk. In particular, tens of thousands of people from minority communities have been forced from their homes, and are in urgent need of assistance.

As the crisis deepened during August, the Government provided immediate funding of €500,000 for communities suffering the serious humanitarian consequences of the rapidly deteriorating security situation. Our funding was channelled through UNICEF and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which scaled up their humanitarian response in order to provide water, food, shelter, and medicine to people forced to leave their homes.

This funding is in addition to the assistance which Ireland was already providing for Iraq. Earlier this year, Ireland provided €160,000 to support the provision of protection services and assistance for female Syrian refugees and host communities in Iraq. In June, Ireland provided funding of €275,000 to the Irish NGOs, GOAL and Christian Aid, to support the provision of essential relief items to vulnerable families who have been displaced by fighting. In addition, we organised the airlifting of essential relief items, including blankets, kitchen sets, jerry cans and shelter supplies, worth €220,000 from our pre-positioned stocks in Dubai, to provide emergency relief to the most vulnerable displaced populations in Ninewa Governorate in Northern Iraq. So far in 2014, Ireland has given a total of €1.15 million in assistance to the Iraqi people, bringing our total support to Iraq since 2006 to more than €14 million. We are continuing to monitor the situation closely and to review what further assistance Ireland might provide.