Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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My Department, through Irish Aid, has responded to the devastation caused by the hurricanes in November in Nicaragua and across much of the Central American region. I would like to express my solidarity with all those affected.

Ireland, though Irish Aid, contributes to the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), which provides immediate support to Caribbean countries following hurricanes to facilitate humanitarian response and immediate necessary public works. CCRIF has so far disbursed US$30.6 million to Nicaragua in response to November's hurricanes.

Through the Start Fund, a pooled NGO-led humanitarian financing mechanism to which Irish Aid contributes; €200,000 has been allocated to Christian Aid, Save the Children and Trócaire enabling humanitarian assistance for over 34,000 people displaced or affected by the hurricanes in Nicaragua. The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, through their Disaster Relief Emergency Fund, responded to the hurricanes in Nicaragua by releasing funding of €410,000 in a local response to the crisis. Ireland is a regular contributor to this fund.

The Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), a UN humanitarian fund, established to provide urgent responses to humanitarian crises, allocated more than €5 million to respond to the crisis in the region, including Nicaragua. Ireland is the tenth largest international donor to the CERF to which we contributed €10 million in 2020. My Department, through Irish Aid, also provided emergency funding of €80,000 to NGO Goal to enable its response to the impact of the hurricanes on neighbouring Honduras.

My Department continues to monitor the situation in Nicaragua and the region, through the Embassy of Ireland in Mexico and other official contacts.