Foreign Affairs Committee welcomes decision to supply more aid and send personnel to help deal with Pakistan flooding disaster

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs has welcomed a commitment from Minister for Overseas Development Peter Power, TD, to release further supplies from pre-positioned emergency non-food items to aid those suffering from the flooding disaster in Pakistan.

Speaking after presentations to the Committee by Pakistani Ambassador to Ireland Naghmana Hashmi and Minister for Overseas Development Peter Power, Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, Dr Michael Woods, TD, said: “Ireland’s internationally recognised tradition of responding generously to the needs of people suffering in major disasters must be continued for the people of Pakistan. Therefore, we are very happy to see that the people of Ireland have responded generously with €2.4 million donated up to last weekend. We also welcome the Minister’s commitment at today’s meeting of the Committee to add to supplies already released and to provide support through the provision of personnel from our Rapid Response Corps. The fact that a member of the Dublin Fire Service, trained as part of the Framework for Emergency Management, is being deployed this week as part of the UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team, UNDAC, carrying out needs assessment in Pakistan is very welcome.

The situation in Pakistan is most depressing. The pictures we have witnessed coming from the country on a daily basis for the past number of weeks are truly heartbreaking. The devastating floods which have hit Pakistan have resulted in one of the greatest humanitarian crises in recent times. More than 1,600 people have been killed and 20 million people have been displaced by the floods which have inundated an area twice the size of Ireland.

The devastation caused is a multiple of the devastation we saw following the Tsunami disaster and the appalling earthquake in Haiti. Yet the response from the international community appears to be grossly inadequate and slow and must be accelerated.

The Irish Government has already pledged a total of €2 million in humanitarian assistance to the Pakistani people. It is clear from Minister Power’s presentation to the Committee that Ireland will be not be found wanting in playing its part in contributing to the international aid effort.

“We also must not lose sight of the long-term work that will be involved in the reconstruction of Pakistan, particularly its agriculture sector which has suffered badly from the floods. Around 70 per cent of the population are involved in agriculture, many at subsistence level. It is crucial to plan now to re-establish agriculture at the earliest time to help alleviate future suffering of the Pakistani people.”

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
E: ciaran.brennan@oireachtas.ie