asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his Department will set up a committee, which will have finance and personnel available at all times, to assist nations where populations are subjected to sudden and severe disasters, such as earthquakes, flooding and epidemics, necessitating urgent medical treatment and supplies.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Disaster Relief Committee.
5.
In so far as this country is concerned, such assistance in the international field is normally channelled through the Irish Red Cross Society, which works in co-operation with the League of Red Cross Societies, or through the organisations of the United Nations system. There seems to be no necessity for the setting up of a committee of the kind referred to in the question.
Is the Minister satisfied in his own way with the speed at which medical assistance is made available to countries which suffer a natural disaster like an earthquake or a flood?
I gather that the system seems to be working satisfactorily. There have been requests to the UN to have recommendations made for pre-disaster planning on a national and international basis. I gather that the system has been working satisfactorily.
Is the Minister aware——
We have a large number of questions to deal with.
——that a committee similar to this exists in Britain and is doing the work much more quickly and achieving its ends at a greater speed than the Red Cross in channelling aid to other countries?
The advice I have from those who deal with it is that such a committee would merely duplicate what the Red Cross are doing rather than speed it up.