24 Jan 2012, 12:51
The Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade will focus on the situation in Haiti two years after the earthquake which devastated the country. As part of Haiti Week, representatives from Haven; Plan Ireland; Concern Worldwide; Habitat for Humanity; Goal; Soul of Haiti; UNICEF; and Oxfam will address the Committee.
Committee Chairman, Pat Breen TD said: “This month is the second anniversary of the devastating earthquake which hit Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the Western world. More than 230,000 people were killed and 1.6 million were left homeless. Two years on, despite huge recovery efforts from Irish and international agencies, around 600,000 people still live in tents.
Haiti Week, the first initiative of its kind in Ireland, is an innovative partnership developed by a number of Irish charities and businesses to assist the development of new ideas and approaches that will help hundreds of thousands of Haitian people.
Tomorrow, we will have an opportunity to hear first-hand from these groups about the situation on the ground in Haiti and what needs to be done to deal with many of the key humanitarian and development issues facing the country.”
This meeting will take place in Committee Room 1 at 2.30pm on Wednesday, 25th January.
Committee proceedings can be followed live at:
For further information please contact:
Ciaran Brennan,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
P: +3531 618 3903
M: 086-0496518
F: +3531 618 4551
Committee Membership
Pat Breen, TD (Chairman)
Eric Byrne, TD
Bernard J Durkan, TD
Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, TD
Michael McNamara, TD
Dara Murphy, TD
Dan Neville, TD
Seán Ó Fearghaíl, TD
Maureen O’Sullivan, TD
Senators
Deirdre Clune,
Mark Daly,
Lorraine Higgins,
Michael Mullins,
David Norris,
Jim Walsh.