Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 April 2014
46. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which commitments entered into by the international community have been delivered to specific areas following major disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes in the Philippines, Haiti and other such areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15894/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraSignificant progress has been made in recent years to improve the scale and effectiveness of the response of the international community to major disasters and humanitarian crises. Many lessons have been learned from previous crises such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Under the leadership of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), clear systems have been put in place to ensure the most effective, efficient and rapid delivery of aid possible. Ireland has been playing our part in ensuring these reforms are implemented, so that responses are timely and effective, and meet the most critical, immediate needs.
Two months after the January 2010 Haiti earthquake, an international donor conference was held in New York, at which US $4.5 billion worth of assistance over two years was pledged by the international community in response to the crisis. UN figures indicate that, by the end of 2012, just $2.38 billion of this had actually been disbursed. For our part, we worked hard to meet Ireland's commitments to the people of Haiti. By the end of 2012, our pledge of €13 million had been honoured and exceeded, with support totalling almost €14 million.
At the UN in New York in September 2011, the Tánaiste pledged that €10 million in humanitarian assistance would be made available to help the poorest and most vulnerable in the Horn of Africa before the end of 2012. I am happy to report that this pledge has also been met, with almost €12 million in funding provided by December 2012. Similarly, at the High-Level International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria in January 2013, I announced a commitment of €4.7 million to support the provision of humanitarian assistance in Syria and neighbouring countries. By the end of 2013, this pledge had been exceeded by over €6.5 million, with a total of €11.3 million in assistance provided throughout the course of the year.
In view of the immense needs in Syria and neighbouring countries hosting Syrian refugees I attended the Second International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria and region in Kuwait on January 15th 2014 where I announced Ireland's pledge of €12 million in support to the humanitarian relief effort for 2014. This additional pledge in Kuwait brings our overall funding commitment from 2011 to 2014 to €26.011 million. The UN has requested US$ 6.5 billion in response to the crisis in Syria for 2014 which is 15% funded to date.
Even though no official pledging conference took place in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan which struck the Philippines in November 2014, according to the UN's Financial Tracking Service, as of 31 March 2014 almost US$790 million has been contributed to the response by the international community and a further US$413 million has been pledged but not yet committed.
Ireland was one of the first countries to respond to this natural disaster and our contribution to date stands at over €4 million. The Government also authorised the deployment of a technical mission to explore ways in which Ireland can most effectively contribute to the recovery process. The recommendations from this technical mission include provision of additional funding of €3 million for the recovery phase, which I pledged during my recent visit to Tacloban in the Philippines. With this new commitment, Ireland's total humanitarian funding response to Typhoon Haiyan will exceed €7 million.
In order to promote the importance of ensuring that donor aid pledges are credible, achievable, and properly monitored, the OECD has published a "Recommendation on Good Pledging Practice". This comprises a set of principles relating to pledging practice for financial undertakings to developing countries and is designed to serve as a benchmark to help OECD Member States frame future aid pledges in terms that are clear, practical, realistic, and capable of being monitored. Ireland has a proud record of meeting our pledges and strongly supports this OECD initiative and will continue to use all appropriate fora to urge our fellow donors to ensure that they meet their humanitarian commitments in full.
