DÁIL ÉIREANN

AN COMHCHOISTE UM GHNÓTHAÍ EACHTRACHA AGUS TRÁDÁIL

JOINT COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE

Dé Céadaoin, 20 Samhain 2013

Wednesday, 20 November 2013

The Joint Committee met at 2.35 p.m.

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Deputy Seán Crowe, Senator Deirdre Clune, Deputy Bernard J. Durkan, Senator Mark Daly, Deputy Olivia Mitchell, Senator Michael Mullins, Deputy Dan Neville, Senator David Norris, Deputy Maureen O’Sullivan, Senator Jim Walsh. Deputy Brendan Smith,

DEPUTY PAT BREEN IN THE CHAIR.

1 Business of Joint Committee Business of Joint Committee

Chairman: We will begin with the draft minutes of the meeting of 13 November 2013, which have been circulated to all members. Are they agreed? Agreed.

Situation in Syria and the Philippines: Discussion with UNICEF Ireland

Chairman: I remind members, witnesses and those in the Public Gallery to ensure their mobile telephones are switched off completely for the duration of the meeting as they cause interference with the recording equipment in the committee rooms, even in silent mode. I wel- come Mr. Peter Power, the executive director of UNICEF Ireland. He is familiar to all of us, having been a Member of the House for so many years. I think he was elected to the House in 2002, like myself. He is the former Chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equal- ity, Defence and Women’s Rights and former Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He has just returned from the Philippines this morning. It took about four or five flights to get from Tacloban, where he was based, to Cebu to Manila and finally back to Dublin via Abu Dhabi so I thank him for coming before the committee. I know he is probably in another time zone.

This meeting has been arranged for some time but it is very timely. We have all seen the images on our television screens, particularly the aftermath of one of the worst typhoons in liv- ing memory that has devastated many regions of the Philippines, left more than 4,000 people dead and displaced more than four million people. It is quite clear from the television footage that millions of people will need humanitarian assistance. Of course, children are always the victims of these tragedies and that is where UNICEF comes in. It has done a great job so far in highlighting the cause of children, particularly in the aftermath of such tragedies where many children are left orphaned or where many parents are looking for their lost children as a result of the devastation. Mr. Power travelled to the Philippines a number of days ago and has come back this morning. We are delighted to have him here.

We will also be discussing the ongoing situation in Syria. Obviously, that is something that has gone off the television screens at the moment but that is what happens with the media. It moves from one incident to another but people are still suffering and very much so in Syria where more than 100,000 people have been killed. Mr. Power will talk about Syria as well. Obviously, the unfolding situation in the Philippines is very much the topic of the moment. I call Mr. Power to make his presentation to the committee. He will also answer questions from members. I welcome Mr. Power and his representative from UNICEF Ireland, Ms Nikita White.

Mr. Peter Power: I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for their kind invi- tation to join them to brief them about UNICEF’s operations around the world, but specifically in respect of Syria and most recently in respect of the appalling humanitarian disaster which I witnessed unfolding this week in the Philippines. With the permission of the Chairman and members, I would like to begin with the Philippines typhoon disaster because it is so timely and urgent. This morning I returned to Dublin having spent a week in the Philippines where I witnessed the tragic consequences of perhaps the most violent natural disaster in history. I saw the true magnitude of the effect of this disaster on families and children which will forever change their lives and will haunt me for a lifetime. At 4.30 a.m. on 9 November, typhoon Hai- yan, known in the Philippines as typhoon Yolanda, made landfall with devastating force. Words 2 Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade alone cannot convey to this committee the ferocity of this super typhoon even though everyone has seen the photographs and the television images. Typhoon Haiyan is possibly the strongest storm ever to have hit a populated land mass. I wish to convey to the committee the sheer scale of the devastation as seen with my own eyes. It is beyond what members may have seen in the media. I wish to convey how many people and children in particular, have been affected.

The sheer numbers alone give some sense of the wide area of devastation and how many are affected. The total population affected is 12.9 million, approximately three times the popula- tion of Ireland. The total number of children affected is 5.4 million and the total number of displaced children is 1.7 million. Displaced in this context means that their houses have been destroyed so 1.7 million were rendered homeless overnight. By any measure this is a stagger- ing number of people.

The national media in the Philippines reported this morning that 243,000 houses were com- pletely destroyed with an equal number very severely damaged. To put this figure in context, if an equivalent disaster had occurred in Dublin, the entire city would be rendered uninhabit- able. Practically every house would be either completely destroyed or uninhabitable. The city of Dublin would be uninhabitable. That is the scale of what I was confronted with this week in the Philippines.

Following the enormity of the typhoon, UNICEF immediately initiated its highest level of emergency response, mobilising its global resources and personnel to the region. Before the typhoon hit, UNICEF had 70 personnel on the ground and this number was immediately increased to more than 100 to establish a relief headquarters in the decimated city of Tacloban. I was briefed by our senior team in Tacloban and the massive scale of the relief effort needed became clear. From the air, for hundreds of miles, the devastation was near total. It is estimated that almost 90% of all dwelling houses in the city of Tacloban lie in ruins. I agree with this as- sessment. The destruction is everywhere to be seen. Rubble is piled up two and three metres high across whole swathes of the city. But for the grace of God and the advance weather warn- ings, unlike for the tsunami and the Haiti earthquake, I am convinced the death toll would now be in the hundreds of thousands. The relatively low death toll masks the true scale of the dev- astation. Many of those who died remain underneath the rubble. The stench of death fills the air to the extent that masks are needed when going around the city. I spoke to survivors, many of whom were still traumatised by the ferocity of this experience. They told me that for the first few days there was practically no water or food and children suffered greatly in the early days.

Tacloban is just one city in one region and nine regions of the country were completely devastated by the typhoon. An estimated 5.4 million children have been affected by typhoon Haiyan across the nine regions of the Philippines. An estimated 4.6 million children require psycho-social support and protection against gender-based violence, trafficking and exploita- tion. By 19 November, the number of children displaced has risen to 1.7 million out of a total of 4 million people. UNICEF is supporting the government-led response in co-ordination with other UN agencies and is leading the water and sanitation and hygiene, WASH, programme which is essential in the immediate aftermath of a disaster of this magnitude. UNICEF is also leading child protection,education and nutrition clusters. UNICEF has identified strategic pri- orities and is working to prevent deterioration in the pre-existing levels of mortality, morbidity and malnutrition and to provide shelter and support to displaced populations.

Children are growing increasingly vulnerable to water-borne diseases, separation from fam- ily, protection violations such as trafficking, child labour and gender-based violence. UNICEF WASH programme supplies were the first to arrive in Tacloban and at least 200,000 people, 3 Situation in Syria and the Philippines: Discussion with UNICEF Ireland including women and children, have access to safe drinking water as the first water treatment plant is returned to full operating capacity. I saw with my own eyes some of the children tak- ing water from public taps which had been repaired by UNICEF in conjunction with US aid. It brought home to me the importance of a public water system. These children told me they had no water for days until this tap was fixed.

There have been initial reports of children separated from their families in the Ormoc re- gion and reunification activities are ongoing. There is also growing concern that gender-based violence against women and girls will increase, given the lack of electricity in some areas, par- ticularly in evacuation centres and in makeshift shelters. I did not see any electricity pylons still standing in my tour of the affected areas. Children are also exposed to the danger of physical injuries due to falling debris. With the massive destruction of school infrastructure and day care centres, millions of children are out of school and thousands of teachers have been reported as missing, most likely having fled the area in the days after the typhoon struck. Field assessments indicate that of the 1,415 evacuations centres, 893 are in school buildings which means the schools are occupied as places of shelter for evacuees. In eastern Visayas, almost 2,000 schools were destroyed with an impact on the education of 590,000 children. There is concern over the risk of increased exploitation of children - particularly boys - in child labour. There is a need to support the immediate resumption of schooling for children to give them a sense of normality and to provide them with access to psycho-social support. Members of the committee will have seen the need for such supports during their visits to the areas affected by the crisis in Syria.

UNICEF is working closely with the World Health Organization and the Department of Health to plan mass-immunisation campaigns for measles and to provide oral polio vaccines in an effort to provide life-saving interventions to all affected children. I witnessed the fledg- ing programme in action outside the what was left of the accident and emergency department in Tacloban with the entrance blocked by cars piled high by the typhoon. UNICEF aims to commence the campaign in Tacloban over the next three weeks. With an estimated 1.5 million children at risk of acute malnutrition and close to 800,000 pregnant and lactating women in need of nutritional support, supplies for community-based management of acute malnutrition are also being procured.

I can show the committee a headline in yesterday’s edition of a national newspaper, Philip- pine Daily Inquirer, the paper of record reporting this disaster. The headline states that millions of people are still hungry ten days after the disaster. It is topped by a dramatic photograph, which we can circulate to the committee, of the city of Tanauan, north of Tacloban where I was, showing a scene of complete destruction. Two unfortunate young girls are running away, covering their noses against the stench of death that was all-pervasive on the days I was there. I will share this photograph with the committee.

UNICEF has increased its funding requirements for typhoon Haiyan to €45 million until May 2014, amounting to a mere six months’ humanitarian work. UNICEF has received 49% of its funding requirements to respond to the typhoon. It will call on the Irish Government to assist us in our relief efforts in the Philippines. I thank the Tánaiste, the Minister of State with responsibility for development aid and the Government for their increased financial support of more than €3 million to the relief effort, but the overall UN appeal remains grossly under- funded. Due to the magnitude of this crisis, the UN’s major organisations will inevitably be required to handle the fallout in the coming months and years.

I have provided many cold facts and figures, but I hope that they have provided the com- mittee with an accurate assessment of the situation on the ground. We can never forget that, 4 Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade behind each of these numbers, there is a devastated child, mother, father or family. One child in particular lives in my memory. He was in front of one of the ships thrown inland by the feroc- ity of the storm going through rubble that contained human bodies, scavenging for food. That image will not leave me for a long time.

This is a real tragedy, the true extent of which has not yet been told to the world at large. It will require a globally co-ordinated response. Ireland should and can lead the way. We have a reputation throughout the world for our humanity and for being a nation of compassionate people. If we are to be true to this tradition, Ireland needs to show an act of national solidarity, led by the Government, politicians such as those represented by this committee and the people at large, to show our support for the people of the Philippines in their darkest hour.

Were it not so serious in its own right, the committee would certainly be forgiven for not discussing the other great humanitarian crisis in the world today, that is, Syria. However, as- sisting the children of Syria remains, for the time being at least, UNICEF’s largest and most costly operation, spanning six countries. Many of the committee’s members have travelled to the Middle East in recent months and have seen for themselves the widespread devastation of this protracted conflict. Along with a substantial financial contribution of €11 million to sup- port the victims of the Syrian crisis, I wish to acknowledge the committee, the Tánaiste and the Minister of State for their collective commitment to ensuring that international law and basic human rights are upheld while parties try to find political solutions.

I am conscious that I may have extended my time, but my script has been circulated to members. With the Chairman’s permission, I will take the remaining parts of the Syrian aspect of my script as being read and conclude on two brief points.

Chairman: That would be fine.

Mr. Peter Power: I will provide some perspective for the committee and mention UNI- CEF’s work generally in emergencies throughout the world. In 2012, the last reported full year of our activities in this regard, UNICEF provided help in 286 emergencies in 79 coun- tries, covering everything from clean water and sanitation to schooling, nutrition, vaccinations and counselling for those traumatised by conflict and disaster. UNICEF’s core commitments for children in humanitarian action constitute UNICEF’s central policy on how to uphold the rights of children affected by humanitarian crises. No one is affected more by these crises than children. Statistically, children and women are 14 times more likely to die during one of these disasters than men.

To conclude on a more positive note, tomorrow morning a group of students from the New- park school in Blackrock will connect with another group of students in the Za’atari refugee camp, Jordan. I am sure that committee members have visited the camp. Tomorrow’s event will mark the launch of UNICEF’s nationwide youth consultation on the post-2015 millennium development goals, MDG, agenda. My colleague to my left, Ms Nikita White, has co-ordinated the It’s About Us! campaign. Tomorrow afternoon, the Tánaiste will formally launch our new set of interactive CSPE resources, which are designed to inform, inspire and enable young people to discuss the world that they want to see after 2015. These classroom discussions will connect with the national and regional consultations on what will replace the MDGs in the post-2015 agenda. The committee has an interest in and input into Ireland’s position in the post-2015 discussions. UNICEF is investing in the innovation and creativity of young people in Ireland to create their vision for the future and to build a world fit for all children.

5 Situation in Syria and the Philippines: Discussion with UNICEF Ireland During a visit to Jordan in October, UNICEF met students from Za’atari, notably a young girl called Hanan, aged 16 years. She told us that she would embody the future of her country and that she wanted to rebuild Syria and participate. We must listen to the voices of these chil- dren so that they can contribute to peace, tolerance and reconciliation. It is only through this investment in children’s future that we can secure a Syria at peace. Only through this invest- ment in children’s futures can we protect and rebuild the lives of the children in the Philippines, many of whom have lost their loved ones, their homes and their hope for the future.

Chairman: I thank Mr. Power for that graphic account of his visit to the Philippines and for updating us on the current situation in Syria. Some committee members visited the Za’atari refugee camp last June to see it at first hand. The camp has grown from 15,000 people to 120,000 people. Jordan is now closing its borders to some refugees, putting more pressure on the camps and the situation in Syria. We will keep the issue at the top of our agenda. I com- mend the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on its funding for Syria and the €3 million that it has donated via NGOs to help the Philippine crisis.

Mr. Power referred to the $30 million shortfall in UNICEF’s work in the Philippines. How should that shortfall be funded? Are donor countries giving more or less money than they should in terms of their respective GDPs? Ireland’s €3 million is a great contribution, given our size. China has only contributed €1 million or €1.5 million. After Mr. Power replies, I will hand over to Deputy Smith.

Mr. Peter Power: That is a good question. Some 50% of the €45 million to which I referred - some $60 million - is part-funded. According to our initial assessments, this will only get us through the next six months. We are discussing millions of people. The amount of money will inevitably increase, possibly into the hundreds of millions of euro, such will be the nature of this prolonged operation. It is proposed we make up the shortfall of €30 million by mobilising public support and opinion behind the work of UNICEF, not alone in Ireland but throughout the world. As I mentioned, the scale of this disaster is such that major organisations such as UNI- CEF and others will be required to undertake enormous work over a huge area of the country in a co-ordinated manner. Obviously, these organisations will work with other implementing part- ners and NGOs. We are asking for public donations and calling on governments of the world, including the Irish Government, to assist UNICEF in its important work. I accept this will not be easy. I know only too well that all overseas development aid budgets are under pressure. While, as rightly pointed out by the Chairman, Ireland has stepped up to a significant degree, an awful lot more will be required in the months and years ahead.

Chairman: I thank Mr. Power for his presentation. The first speaker is Deputy Brendan Smith.

Deputy Brendan Smith: I welcome Mr. Power and his colleagues. Like the Chairman, I, too, welcome the great clarity brought by Mr. Power to this humanitarian disaster. I was struck by much of what he had to say in his presentation in terms of the number of people affected and displaced and, in particular, the following sentence: “I saw the magnitude on families and children which will forever change their lives and haunt me for a lifetime”, which sums up this desperate humanitarian disaster.

I take this opportunity to welcome the Irish Government’s response to date through Irish Aid and to compliment UNICEF and other Irish NGOs and their sister organisations on how quickly they responded after this disaster struck. I know from my constituency that collections at churches and collection centres last week were very good. The Filipino community in each 6 Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade county made it their business to link up with and support these efforts. Yesterday, when listen- ing to an interview with a representative of the World Food Programme, I noted that 600,000 people had not yet been reached in terms of food. Mr. Power stated that millions are still hun- gry, which is much more alarming. I hope I am accurate in saying the figure of 600,000 was mentioned by a representative of the World Food Programme. It would not give great confi- dence if that is the base on which such a major organisation is working.

In terms of general commentary, there has been no mention of the major earthquake in the Philippines a month ago, by which 350,000 people were affected. The disaster prone nature of the country adds to the desperate situation there. A number of Members tabled questions on this issue to the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs during Question Time yesterday. The Tánaiste stated at the time that preparation was under way for the airlift of essential shelter and water sanitation items in the coming days. I am sure we as a committee would not have a problem in supporting Mr. Power’s request for additional support.

One of the questions I put to the Tánaiste was whether the UN and its organisations have the capacity to deal with this type of crisis. During a meeting of this committee last week, Deputy Bernard Durkan asked if we ever learned from previous disasters in terms of response. I did not know until I got the Tánaiste’s reply yesterday that there were so many UN organisations. There appears to be an organisation under every subheading. I imagine the response in the initial days is never as co-ordinated as it could be. Based on media reports, there has been an improvement in terms of reaching people in different regions. Does the UN have the capacity to deal effectively with this type of disaster?

We were told last week by officials from the Department that the EU was providing €25 million. Am I correct that some of this funding will be only provided in the future? There does not appear to be an urgency in terms of getting aid to the area as rapidly as possible. I hope I am wrong. We need to stress at every forum available to us the urgency with which this issue needs to be addressed. Another issue is that in one of the regions most severely affected, 90% of the people were dependent on fishing for their income and that all their equipment and boats had been smashed and broken. This means there is a huge community without a means of deriving a livelihood. Is that particular issue being addressed too? I know immediate problems are being addressed but what is being done to assist people in returning to normal living into the future?

I compliment UNICEF and all the NGOs on the excellent work being done. Mr. Power’s presentation is a powerful message in regard to this huge humanitarian disaster.

Mr. Peter Power: I thank Deputy Smith for his contribution. I will try to address the many points he made. First, the Deputy is correct that there is a large Filipino community in Ireland who are, in my view, highly respected people. The Filipino people are a lovely people. UNICEF has a long-standing connection with them. In many cases, they provide health care services. I know that many Filipino health care workers, in particular home help providers, pro- vide a fantastic and human service. We need to show solidarity with them in their time of crisis.

The Deputy asked the reason the figures as mentioned by the World Food Programme rep- resentative versus the figures I have quoted differ, in respect of which I would like to make two points. First, the disaster area is huge and is only really visible from the air. The immediate pictures may have concentrated on the city of Tacloban because it was the only city one could access by aeroplane. The sheer expanse of the destruction when viewed from a helicopter has to be seen to be believed. There is no other way of putting it. I mentioned the other day that it is as if a 20 mile wide steamroller went through the country. That is the scale of the disaster. I 7 Situation in Syria and the Philippines: Discussion with UNICEF Ireland make that point because there are so many areas that have not yet been reached and will only be reached via helicopters. The US military has a presence off the coast now and its helicopters are getting food aid and water to the more outlying areas. The point I am making is that it is difficult to be accurate in terms of the numbers affected but certainly many people do not have food. A man who was driving me around Tacloban the other day told me he had looted for food to feed his family. This man was a good man and not a criminal. He told me that was what people were resorting to because all their belongings had been destroyed in this huge disaster. It is difficult to be accurate in terms of reporting facts and figures.

The Deputy also asked if the UN has the capacity to respond to this disaster. Only time will tell. The office of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, and his special adviser on humanitarian affairs gave a final report this morning on the Haiti earthquake, in respect of which the statistics are quite interesting. At the peak of that particular disaster, 2.3 million had been affected and more than 105,000 houses had been destroyed. In the Philippines 4 million children are affected and 243,000 houses have been wiped out. That is the scale of this particular disaster. It is enormous. I know that Valerie Amos, the head of the Organisation for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, recently presented to this committee. She was in the Philippines last week. It will be her responsibility and that of her office to co- ordinate all the individual agencies.

Deputy Durkan asked previously whether we had learned from the failures of the past. I am unsure whether we have, but one failure following the tsunami of 2004, especially in the Banda Aceh region, was that everyone piled in. NGOs and agencies were tripping over each other. This is not unlike that situation, and it should be co-ordinated far better, but the point is well made.

The final point, which I should have mentioned in my script, is that Irish Aid has provided funding, but it has also provided - which is most welcome to organisations such as UNICEF - the rapid response corps, which has been built up in the organisation in recent years. One of the big things in this disaster is that every telephone pole and every piece of communications equipment is down. Irish specialist communications engineers are at the disposal of the larger agencies to provide basic telecommunications infrastructure in order that the aid agencies can start communicating with each other about which will go where and what the situation is here and there. It is difficult to say it but it is almost as important as food and water and medical supplies to get a basic infrastructure of communications in place.

All of these things must be dealt with as matter of urgency before all the fishing boats and the communities are rebuilt. That will take years and years, without question.

Deputy Seán Crowe: I welcome Mr. Power. I suppose the scale and magnitude of the issues in Syria and the Philippines are difficult to take in. Mr. Power has been graphic in his description of what is happening. We have seen it on the television but I am unsure whether we get any sense of how it is affecting people thousands of miles away. At the centre of the prob- lem is the actions of man, whether it is the crazy weather or otherwise. Other countries could be affected similarly. Unfortunately, in the case of the Philippines, there was the earthquake to which Mr. Power referred and now this.

I notice that the blame game has started within the Philippines. There were tensions with regard to the Marcos regime, and now the Aquino Government is blaming local government and so on. It is a question of the structures that are in place. Mr. Power referred to the scale of the problem. How do we deal with it if the President is blaming local government but local 8 Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade government has been destroyed? There are structures in place, including the police and the army. Are they still operating? How do they tie in with the rescue effort? Are they all over the place as well?

Mr. Power referred to gender-based violence. Amid all the devastation, people are being raped. I cannot understand how people can do this. UNICEF concentrates on children. What can be done for the children? There is a major sex industry in the Philippines. What can UNI- CEF do in this regard? Mr. Power referred to the children that had been displaced, and men- tioned the need for power structures to enable contact and so on. What can UNICEF do to try to get those families back in touch with each other? Is it the case that these children are now orphans? We have seen graphic pictures on the television screens of children burying bodies. Where are the adults? What is happening? That is why I have asked about the structures that exist, including the army, the police and local government structures. What is happening in this regard?

Mr. Power referred to the administration of polio vaccine. I imagine there are still struc- tures on the government side. Is it the case that they do not have immunisation facilities? Mr. Power made reference in particular to those under two years of age being in danger. What can be done?

I thank Mr. Power for the work he, his organisation and the other aid groups are doing. We need to start with small steps and start tackling it. They scale of the devastation is beyond anyone.

Mr. Peter Power: The point Deputy Crowe made about tensions and the blame game is well made. One need only read the national daily newspapers, which we are keeping in touch with, over the past week to realise the position. Clearly, the assignment of blame has started. Much of it has to do with the fact that local government has been effectively wiped out. The houses of the people who worked in local government are gone. Their first and foremost con- cern has been to look after their immediate families, determine whether they are lost or injured and how to care for their children. If there were a flood in a constituency one would expect that the local authority would row in and start mobilising, but that was not an option in this area. The fact that the municipal offices were also wiped out did not help either.

UNICEF works through government systems. We are there at the invitation of the Govern- ment, and part of the reason we are effective is that we are able to operate at scale with govern- ment systems. Building up the capacity to deal with this emergency via the government, local and municipal systems is important. The point is well made.

Deputy Crowe is absolutely right about unburied bodies. It is a big issue. We walked past corpses and the smell is something I will not forget for a long time. There is tension in the air over that because people, even in death, should have dignity. Many do not, and that is causing some tension. There is a question over whether there should have been a mass burial - some- thing like that took place last Friday or Saturday - while some claim there should be individual graves, and this is causing some tension.

Anyway, it comes back to the fact that it is difficult to explain just how much damage has been done. Everywhere one goes one sees rubble. There are no buildings any more, only rubble. It is an unbelievable mess.

Deputy Seán Crowe: It is difficult for local people to organise even the basic things if they

9 Situation in Syria and the Philippines: Discussion with UNICEF Ireland are starving.

Mr. Peter Power: The first priority of most people is to leave. They simply have to get out. There is really nothing left there. I do not claim to be an expert in the area but possibly the only way to deal with this is a mass evacuation of the entire population followed by an attempt to begin some form of reconstruction, with all that would entail, because the city does not exist any more. It is gone.

Deputy Olivia Mitchell: Like others, I thank Mr. Power for his presentation, which was so stark and honest. I watched the television report on the news one night recently featuring Mr. Power and his colleague, Barry Andrews. It was obvious not only how shocking the situation was but how shocked people such as Mr. Power, who has seen disasters before, were by the scale of what has happened. It was shocking to see young children semi-naked and shivering with the cold with nothing.

There was a good deal of criticism about the slow response. I am glad Mr. Power remarked that Ireland was not one of the countries guilty of that. We were on the ground within days do- ing assessment work. We had the rapid response corps there. Irish aid arrived in the Philippines before we began to hear complaints of delays. Consequently, I believe we are not culpable in that regard. The other concern obviously is money and I note that in a recent survey carried out in Ireland, unlike previous surveys there seemed to be a drop in support for State aid going out of the country. I do not know whether Mr. Power saw that. It was not against aid per se but simply against State aid and people appeared to be expressing a preference to fund themselves. The State has stepped up and will continue to so do but while the Philippines is a long way from here, there is hardly an Irish person who does not know a Filipino. Both Mr. Power and my family have reason to be grateful to the health care workers from the Philippines. There has been a response by way of donations, which I believe will continue. A coffee morning was held here at Leinster House and although it was very quickly organised and not that well-publicised, within an hour €3,000 was raised. I am sure everyone is involved in various fund-raising events and it is to be hoped Ireland will not be found wanting.

I wish to make one point related to Mr. Power mentioning that in humanitarian disasters like this, there is a particular risk to children and security. I believe his organisation was represented at a summit I attended last week at which everyone present made a commitment to pay particu- lar attention to the security of women and children in emergency situations. I was pleased that in his opening statement, Mr. Power mentioned the huge increase in gender-based violence in humanitarian situations. In the past, however, it has often been dealt with and recognised after the event and I note this commitment to deal with it now, upfront, through prevention, before it becomes a major problem. I hope UNICEF, through its work on the ground, recognises it is just as life-threatening to be raped as it is to be hungry, certainly for women and children, who are particularly vulnerable. I thank Mr. Power for the presentation.

Chairman: I will ask Mr. Power to respond after Deputy Maureen O’Sullivan’s contribu- tion.

Deputy Maureen O’Sullivan: I thank Mr. Power. The most telling image in his presenta- tion was when he made the point that had this disaster occurred in Dublin, the entire city would be uninhabitable. This brings home the extent of the disaster and when one sees what has hap- pened in the Philippines, it certainly puts into perspective the woes of this country. I noted Mr. Power’s observation that this was the biggest humanitarian crisis ever and yet we have gone from Hurricane Katrina to Haiti and on to the disasters in Pakistan, India and Japan. It is almost 10 Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade as though there is a continuum of disasters and each one that happens takes the emphasis off the previous one, which still is left in dire straits. Haiti is not resolved by any means but each of them is contributing to this trend. There is no doubt there were issues with the Government in the Philippines and its initial reaction in trying to play down exactly what happened. This certainly did not help. When one looks at the bigger picture, however, the issues about climate change, population and infrastructure in those countries as well as about the kind of housing in which people were living, they all were recipes for disaster, and when that disaster comes, it is the most vulnerable who are very much affected by it. These aspects must be taken into account when it comes to reconstruction. As a society and globally, we must take seriously climate change and population issues as otherwise we simply are creating more disasters for the future.

It is difficult to get one’s head around the number of organisations that are present in the Philippines. I read only today the British Royal Navy is looking after one part, the American Navy is looking after another and there are Israeli doctors and relief teams in a third region. Surely there is a need for a lead organisation when something like this happens. I do not know whether this should be UNICEF or whoever but surely there can be some agreement that when such disasters occur, there will be a co-ordinating point that will lead on all of this.

My final point pertains to Syria, because this is another example in that Syria now has been pushed down the list a little further because of what is happening. A lot of money was pledged to Syria but a lot remains owing. What is happening in this regard?

Chairman: I invite Mr. Power to comment on the contributions of Deputy Mitchell and Deputy Maureen O’Sullivan.

Mr. Peter Power: I thank the Deputies for the questions. I thank Deputy Mitchell for her kind comments about UNICEF. She made one point about gender-based violence, in other words, rape.

Deputy Olivia Mitchell: I meant all forms of gender-based violence. I simply mentioned that one.

Mr. Peter Power: Yes. The fact is that men take advantage of situations like this to cause abuse. It comes down to basic physical things. In these makeshift camps and shelters - the sports aerodrome there now is home to hundreds of families - it is dark at night, there is free movement of people and men always take advantage of those situations. UNICEF is very mindful of this and we are responsible for that aspect of this crisis. Our top expert in the area is a lady called Pernille Ironside, who I met over there and only yesterday, she had a meeting with Government agencies to ascertain how we would deal with this. We will do so in two ways, the first of which is to ensure unaccompanied minors are reunited with their families. We have just received the latest figures from Tacloban and Ormuc, which confirmed that to date, just three children have been identified and reunited with their families but that there are five unac- companied children. These are children who probably have lost both their parents and possibly siblings as well. We hear terribly tragic stories, perhaps because of families living in clusters, of entire families and first cousins being wiped out in their entirety. The second initiative UNI- CEF is undertaking under the leadership of Pernille Ironside is to set up child-friendly spaces and already one area in the city of Tacloban has been identified as being the ideal child-friendly space. The reason this is so important - members of this joint committee who visited Za’atari refugee camp would have experienced this - is that children are at their happiest when they are with other children and when they are playing. The absolute need to get children together to play in happy environments is paramount when one is dealing with misery all around, and 11 Situation in Syria and the Philippines: Discussion with UNICEF Ireland one of our top priorities is to create these child-friendly spaces. I hope that deals with Deputy Mitchell’s question.

Deputy Maureen O’Sullivan asked questions on climate change, on the issue of co-ordina- tion and on the issue of Syria, which I mentioned. On climate change, I must admit it frightened me that nature could cause destruction on this scale. It is frightening what nature can do and we have been told repeatedly by the scientists that climate change involves more severe and more frequent weather events of this nature. Perhaps we have seen the first of many. As for the co- ordination the Deputy mentioned, it is a significant problem in all these natural disasters. The natural human desire to help sometimes means that people get in the way of one another and the need for co-ordination has long been recognised. That was the reason I mentioned the office for the co-ordination for humanitarian affairs, led by Valerie Amos. While her job is to do that, organisations must be mindful not to engage in duplication and, as I mentioned, that was a huge problem in Banda Aceh. One must learn from the lessons of the past but it is just humanitar- ian care at present, that is, food, water, medical supplies, child protection and clearing. This is before one talks about reconstruction, which is way down the road. On Syria, coping with the Syrian crisis still is an underfunded programme. In June of this year, the one millionth child left Syria to the surrounding countries and dealing with this is costing hundreds of millions of euro and dollars every year. They are underfunded programmes and that is the reason organisations such as UNICEF reach out to people around the world who are concerned about the welfare of children. We live in a globalised world. If a child suffers half way around the world, we should have the same empathy for that child as if he or she was living next door to us. I hope that in some way answers the three questions.

Chairman: I call Deputy Neville followed by Deputy Durkan.

Deputy Dan Neville: I thank Mr. Power and Ms White for appearing before the commit- tee. As some of my questions have been answered, I will cross them off as that would involve repetition.

There was a delay in responding to the typhoon. What was the weather forecast and the expectation beforehand? A typhoon was expected, although perhaps not at the level at which it developed. Had adequate planning taken place prior to the event? What was the timespan for planning given that we know how difficult weather forecasting can be? We have a week long weather forecast here which is reasonably accurate. What is the position there? Some criti- cisms were reported in the press regarding how Irish aid especially to NGOs was routed to the Philippines. We have been assured that the international aid agencies with which they linked were reputable - I have no doubt they are - but when one sees that level of criticism at how the aid is used, it perhaps damages the response of people if there is a question mark. A comment on that issue might allay some fears around that area.

I was in Za’atari refugee camp. What are the implications for the closing of the Jordanian borders? Did the international community respond to the difficulties experienced by Jordan in that regard? We saw at first hand the difficulties being experienced by the sheer numbers of refugees, some of whom were highly professional people. Many were beginning to seep into Jordanian society and, obviously, some in Jordan saw them as a threat to employment at certain levels given that they had high levels of expertise. The Jordanians were hoping there would be a better response to the position of the refugees. The complexity of that camp was quite informative in that it was a society in itself. The UN leader, whose name I cannot recall, said he was going to develop a city. He said the camp was a city and that it must be treated as a city by putting in the facilities and the structures of a city and allowing democratic political involve- 12 Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade ment of the refugees in what was happening. As it is some time since we were there, I would be interested to hear how it is developing.

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan: I thank Mr. Peter Power for appearing before the commit- tee and being so informative. It is refreshing to get up-to-date information from people on the ground who have an understanding of the situation and are able to convey that to the rest of us. What I cannot understand in regard to this particular disaster is that with modern technology now so adequately sophisticated, it is possible to predict a tsunami and all kinds of disasters well in advance, at least 48 hours in advance, although, as my colleague said, 48 hours may not be enough. Similarly, in the aftermath, I cannot understand how it is not possible to co-ordinate the formation of a grid which is done in agricultural circles on an ongoing basis here and al- locate responsibility to particular areas and sectors and have a co-ordinating body. That can be done within two or three hours. The satellite communications system is in place.

I welcome Mr. Power’s remarks about the engineers Ireland was able to send out who set up the communications so NGOs could set up the communications network themselves. That is important. However, a sequence of events needs to take place shortly. Everybody condemned the looting which American marines came in to quell. That was a great idea but if people had something to eat, there would be no need for looting in the first place. That is not in any way to denigrate the efforts of the marines in that situation.

The major issue is what we talked about last week. When we saw the big heavy helicopters coming, those that could shift large amounts of material in the shortest possible time, we recog- nised that is how one deals with a task of that nature. There are two requirements, first, a code must be assigned to the scale and magnitude of the disaster straightaway through communica- tions and, second, how to co-ordinate the efforts. Forty eight hours is a long time for small chil- dren if they are trapped. I compliment those agencies who were there from the beginning and got in as quickly as possible. However, I would be critical of the international co-ordination effort in that it did not really respond in the way it should have responded to a disaster of that magnitude.

Returning to the issue of Syria, currently there is a global drain on resources. In places such as Syria where there is an internal conflict there has to be a recognition at some stage that civil- ians will suffer heavily unless there is a recognised method whereby they can be an intervention on their behalf. We have to lay down clear guidelines as to what should happen in the event of no provision being made for them. Attempts were made to do this in Bosnia but they failed and we know that they failed in Srebrenica also. The safe havens failed simply because the inter- national community did not live up to its commitments and expectations and, as a result, many died. That will live on in our memories and it will live on, particularly in the memories of those who are directly affected, to the eternal shame of the international community. To what extent, with particular reference to children, can UNICEF Ireland and the international agencies co- ordinate a recognition of the need to put in place a shield to help the refugees who immediately follow in the wake of a military conflict such as that in Syria and in a number of other locations?

Chairman: I was going to say Deputy Power, but does Mr. Power wish to respond?

Mr. Peter Power: I do not know if the Chairman is speaking posthumously or forecasting the future

Chairman: Stay where you are.

13 Situation in Syria and the Philippines: Discussion with UNICEF Ireland Deputy Bernard J. Durkan: Stay where you are.

Mr. Peter Power: I do not know if I have captured the attention of my fellow Limerick man, Deputy Dan Neville. Deputy Neville and Deputy Durkan raised the broadly similar issues of the delay and the co-ordination. If the Deputies do not mind, I will deal with both issues together. We had about four days, approximately 72 hours, advance warning from the weather forecasters that this would be a very big storm. Due to the developing weather system it was not possible to pre-position aid into the area of the disaster. That was not an option. I can only speak for UNICEF. The storms hit at 4.30 a.m. on Friday. On Thursday evening our global depot in Copenhagen had already mobilised our material for shipping and we knew it would be a big storm. We had already got our material out of the warehouse on aircraft and that was in there by Sunday, about 48 hours after the disaster. I mention that as I think it was a pretty good response. By their nature, each crisis, whether a tsunami, earthquake, or super typhoon of this nature, is very different. To try to have a plan for each and every possibility is impos- sible because, by their nature, these are natural events and it is very hard to predict them. That is not to say for one moment that proper organisation or using the best technology should not occur. Despite the best will in the world, there were huge amounts of aid sitting on the tarmac in Manila airport, which I saw, and in Tacloban airport and getting it from the airport one mile or two miles down the road took hours because everything was blocked.

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan: What about helicopters?

Mr. Peter Power: There were no helicopters, or none of the ones the Deputy spoke about. He is correct that when the helicopters arrived from the USS Washington, the effort kicked in in a major way because they were able to get aid to outlying areas. The reason everybody talks about Tacloban is that the CNNs, the Skys and the RTEs of this world were able to get there and tell the story. However, there is a multiple of other areas, including Tanauan, which I mentioned, and the Visayas area, which have been levelled but there are no cameras there. The helicopters are there dealing with this.

The Deputy asked about capacity. The local capacity was not very strong in any event to deal with a disaster of this nature. We had 70 people in the Philippines beforehand and not all were in this area but we got them in fairly quickly. No response will ever be as quick as it should be when children do not have water, which they did not have for a long period of time. The global community is doing its very best in exceptionally difficult circumstances. It is only my opinion but it is hard to see how aid could have got in and have been distributed more quickly than was done. The fact is a phenomenal natural event happened and it takes time to get aid in and to distribute it.

Chairman: That is one of the points Ms Valerie Amos made in her interview. Aeroplanes could not land because the runways were blocked and because of the inclement weather condi- tions after the typhoon. There were high winds and helicopters could not fly. She said that was part of the problem in regard to the distribution of aid and getting to the areas that needed help.

Mr. Peter Power: Deputy Neville asked about the Jordanian situation and the closing of the borders, which would be a matter of concern as the civil war continues. Jordan was very welcoming to refugees and took in well over 1 million. It has really played its part. A huge proportion of its population is from Syria. The Deputy is absolutely correct that some of the people who are now refugees living in tents and other accommodation are people of very high capacity. We met an engineer who left Syria for Lebanon on the northern border. He said he had a big house with a garden and a life but said: “Now look at what I am reduced to.” I met a 14 Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade girl in the Za’atari refugee camp who was crying and said that two weeks ago, she was at uni- versity. She said she had a life and was studying for a degree but now she was living in a tent. That is what these issues mean for real people.

The Deputy’s point about the organisation of the camp into a civil society - a city - was well made and somebody with a rather dark sense of humour put up a big sign at the start of the main road in the Za’atari refugee camp which said “Champs-Élysées”. The contrast between that and the real Champs-Élysées was very stark. I do not mean to be flippant when I say that but it shows that life for these people has to go on and they have to make a new life in very difficult circumstances. Does that answer the Deputy’s question?

Deputy Dan Neville: Is Mr. Power happy that people responded to the Jordanian position and that the international community should respond to the need created in Jordan in facilitating the refugees?

Mr. Peter Power: I agree with the Deputy that the international community needs to sup- port Jordan because it stepped up in a huge way. Jordan decided to organise things by way of structured camps whereas Lebanon decided to do it by much more informal smaller camps. The Za’atari refugee camp, with all of its challenges and difficulties, is functioning reasonably well as a refugee camp, in so far as refugee camps are good places to live.

Senator Jim Walsh: I welcome Mr. Power. I was at a meeting with a Palestinian repre- sentative which delayed me getting here, so I apologise to him. Like others said, we followed his report on television. It was very effective in that it really brought home the scale of the devastation. Fair dues to Mr. Power and RTE for covering that. Powerful images are helpful in order to get the support.

I also commend Mr. Power on the work he is doing, in particular for children. Even in this country, many organisations have children as their main focus of attention and support but, when push comes to shove, many of them prove to be quite deficient in that area. I will refrain from naming them but I commend Mr. Power and his organisation on the work they are doing.

I refer to distributing aid across such an area, in particular that archipelago which is a most difficult area. Are there many areas which have not as yet had support from the aid programme? In some of the programmes I watched, people were coming to the end, from the point of view of hunger, when some of the aid arrived. Perhaps Mr. Power might like to comment a little on that. What does he think can be done, because obviously there will be rebuilding there which, I reckon, will take a considerable number of years?

I mention the prospect for children in that kind of environment. I was really alarmed that Mr. Power reckoned that more than 40% of the children there have been displaced, which is a very significant issue.

I move on to the funding issue. Mr. Power made the point that UNICEF has increased its funding target to $61.5 million, that it only has half of that and there is a still a funding gap of approximately $30 million. It comes back to a conversation we had last week with officials from the Department, who told us what they were doing. At that stage, if I remember correctly, approximately, €1.2 million was being given. I thought that was very insignificant in the con- text of what the requirement was. If one takes our Department of Health, the overall cost it estimated was $300 million. I would say that is wasted in the Department of Health every two to three months.

15 Situation in Syria and the Philippines: Discussion with UNICEF Ireland The UN only contributed $25 million. It seemed people were not stepping up as urgently as I thought they would but Mr. Power is in a much better position to judge that than I am. I think in his reply to Deputy Neville he said he felt the international community has responded reasonably expeditiously. Will he elaborate on that?

Does Mr. Power have any estimate of the overall aid programme required to restore the life of those people to one to which we would aspire as a basic standard of existence? Is the $300 million an under-estimate?

I was one of the members of the committee who visited the Za’atari refugee camp in June. The camps appear to be reasonably well laid out. Some of the people are in tents and others are in Portakabins but when I see what happened in the Philippines, the situations are worlds apart in many ways. It struck me that there are 120,000 people but the Minister of State, Deputy Joe Costello, told us at a previous meetings that when he was there in January it was only 15,000 people. Does Mr. Power want to comment on the numbers that are there now?

The other question that arose when we visited was the application of law and order. There was no law and order within the camp itself and no forces other than what the refugees them- selves generated. Regarding the position of women, which has been covered already, they told us there were brothels operating and some women were being coerced into prostitution within the camps.

On the issue of children mentioned by the witnesses, 2.26 million children were out of school. What is being done to target the area of education because an entire generation is being exposed to being radicalised? It would appear to be in the international community’s interest to ensure that this area is not left for exploitation by others with ill-intent.

I commend the witnesses on their novel project with the students of Newpark school in Blackrock. It is a very good idea to get them interlinked. It is a great initiative and I commend Ms White.

Senator Michael Mullins: I welcome Mr. Peter Power and Ms Nikita White. I have not sat through a more moving and distressing presentation since I became a member of this commit- tee. I commend them on the work they have done. I saw the RTE programme the other night which has done a good deal to heighten awareness among people of the appalling situation.

The witnesses spoke about the close association people have with the Philippines. Many Filipino nurses work here but there has also been a great tradition of Irish missionaries going to the Philippines. We all know many priests in our dioceses who served in the Philippines over the years and who spoke about how much they enjoyed working with the wonderful people in that country.

It is difficult to comprehend the size of this problem. If we were sitting here, and Deputy O’Sullivan referred to it, and outside this House every building in Dublin was levelled, what response would we be considering? I would not be very critical of the immediate response. In the circumstances the response by the various agencies was good, and in recent days it has improved significantly, but I am very concerned about what will happen a few weeks from now, given the volumes of people who must be cared for.

The witnesses spoke about the infrastructure and providing basic food and water but in terms of the issue of housing and shelter for that number of people, what type of housing was there and what consideration is being given to what might be put in place on a more long-term 16 Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade basis?

It upsets me to think that women and children would be violated as a result of this tragedy. It deflates one’s confidence in humanity to think that men would take advantage of the situation to violate vulnerable people. That issue must be addressed. I welcome what the witnesses said about measures being put in place to protect children, and particularly orphans.

The witnesses spoke about national solidarity with the people of the Philippines. Have they anything in mind in that regard? Should we not be talking about international solidarity with the people of the Philippines because while the people of Ireland are generous and will con- tinue to support what is happening, it is obvious that other countries, and probably those much wealthier than ours, are not stepping up to the plate and responding to the extent that the Irish people have done. I welcome the many initiatives announced over the weekend, including the Trócaire collection in every church. I assume that raised a significant amount but I would be concerned this issue will go off the boil very quickly if something else happens in another part of the world.

We are fortunate in that means of communicating with people have improved greatly in re- cent times. The use of social media should significantly help our efforts to get the word out and also help with fund-raising measures. The witnesses might indicate whether their organisation is using social media to highlight the problems.

The situation in Syria remains serious in that aid is not getting to starving people. I support strongly Deputy Durkan’s comments because we are witnessing in Syria the most serious case of human rights abuses in the world. I ask members of the committee to read an article in for- eignpolicy.com by Colm Lynch, published in recent days, from which I will quote one or two sentences. He states:

During the past year, the United Nations’ chief relief agency has routinely withheld from the public vital details of the Bashar al-Assad regime’s systematic campaign to block humanitarian assistance to Syrian civilians. This silence has infuriated human rights advo- cates, who believe that greater public exposure of Assad’s actions would increase political pressure on the Syrian government to allow the international community to help hundreds of thousands of ordinary Syrians who are trapped in the line of fire.

Are the witnesses satisfied that the international community, the European Union and our Government are doing enough to help this situation, which is of major significance and is ensuring that large numbers of children and starving people are not getting aid because of the actions of the regime in preventing aid getting to those people? My colleague, Senator Clune, apologised that she had to leave to go to the Seanad but she asked me to ask the witnesses about the position on refugees from Syria. Do they believe the response from Europe is adequate? We have read a good deal about poor treatment of refugees in Greece and other parts of Europe. Is that perceived as a European response? Should we be doing more to accommodate refugees from Syria in Ireland and in other parts of Europe?

Chairman: Senator Mullins got good value for money with that contribution.

Mr. Peter Power: The Senator certainly did get good value. I will take Senator Walsh’s questions first. I thank the Senator for his kind comments about UNICEF; they are much ap- preciated by us. The Senator asked if relief is getting into the outlying areas. I believe that is happening now but it is late. Whether that should be criticised I cannot say because of all the

17 Situation in Syria and the Philippines: Discussion with UNICEF Ireland challenges we discussed and which I will not repeat. However, the size of the area being de- stroyed beggars belief. It is vast and it must cater for 11 million people, three times the popula- tion of Ireland, over an archipelago of islands in a remote area. To cater for 11 million people - three times the population of Ireland - over an archipelago of islands in a remote area, with all the infrastructure down, makes for a very difficult logistical and humanitarian operation.

Regarding the funding from the Government of €1.2 million, I would say, speaking from experience, that this represents an initial response. This committee, I am sure, will be the first to hold the Minister of State, Deputy Costello, to account, and rightly so, if it were found that he sanctioned the payment of moneys without having appropriate proposals in front of him to ensure those moneys would be allocated for a specific project which would deliver real re- sults by way of organisations that actually have the capacity to deliver. As an initial response and looked at in proportion to the contributions of other countries, it was a relatively strong response from the Government. As the Chairman mentioned, several much larger countries gave less than we did. I am certain that the Tánaiste and the Minister of State will be provid- ing additional resources to organisations. As I said, I have made a formal call for assistance for UNICEF’s efforts in the Philippines, which are currently underfunded. What Irish Aid is doing, which is very useful, is putting our highly respected rapid response corps at the disposal of the international aid community. That will bring in the expertise needed to set up specialist infrastructure and assist the aid effort in an effective way. I know from briefing departmental officials this week that there are 15 people available immediately to deploy into the region as and when they are requested by the organisations working there.

Regarding the projected cost of the reconstruction effort, I cannot give an estimate. In Sena- tor Walsh’s absence I cited the final report of the special adviser to the UN Secretary General on the Haiti disaster, which estimated the total damage and loss caused by the earthquake as amounting to $7.8 billion, comprising $4.3 billion in physical damage and $3.5 billion in eco- nomic loss. Some 105,000 dwellings were completely destroyed in Haiti. Already in the Phil- ippines, 243,000 dwellings have been destroyed. It will take a great deal of funding to rectify damage on that scale.

In terms of how the reconstruction effort should be organised, we had a brief discussion on that before the Senator’s arrival. It is important that we heed the lessons of Banda Aceh. The houses that are reconstructed in the Philippines must be typhoon-proof; that is an abso- lute prerequisite and it will cost a great deal of money. The existing dwellings were entirely inadequate. The area has suffered typhoons year in and year out, but this was an extraordinary natural phenomenon that destroyed everything in its path. One has to see it to believe it.

The Senator asked about law and order in the Za’atari refugee camp. When I was on site in the early stages of the development of that facility, we had to leave by 4 p.m. every day because the daily riot would start at about that time. There certainly were law and order issues. People were very frustrated and upset by the conditions in which they found themselves. As Deputy Neville observed, many of the refugees came from relatively affluent, professional backgrounds and were accustomed to good accommodations. Suddenly, because of where they happened to live, such as Daraa in southern Syria, they ended up living in a tent.

Senator Rónán Mullen raised an important question, which is whether, in a few weeks time, the media will still be focusing on this issue. The reality is that they probably will not, but the crisis will absolutely still be there. UNICEF, certainly, will be in the region for years to come, such are the challenges facing children there. The reconstruction effort will, if it can ever be done successfully, take a very long time. 18 Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade The Senator asked about national solidarity. The Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, called last week for a global response, and we have spoken about interna- tionally co-ordinated responses. That does not mean, however, that Ireland cannot or should not show a lead on the issue. There are long-rooted connections between the people of Ireland and the people of the Philippines. Many members of the religious community here travelled to that country over many decades, while large numbers of young Filipinos have come here seeking work. That should be the basis of a national solidarity on this issue and it is an effort that should be led by political leaders. This committee, which has shown a strong interest in humanitarian affairs, has an important role to play in that regard. The people of Ireland will be willing participants should the Government commit to a strong national effort to help people in the area.

Social media have an important part to play in raising awareness of the plight of people and communities affected by this disaster. Young people to whom I have spoken are hugely affected by the suffering of their counterparts in other parts of the world. Earlier today I briefed our UNICEF Ireland ambassadors, all of whom are very adept at social media and use their high- profile status to communicate with many thousands of people via a single tweet or Facebook posting. That gets the message out very effectively.

Senator Mullen also asked about the degree of international willingness to resolve the crisis in Syria. There is unquestionably a stalemate both inside Syria and among the international community. UNICEF does not generally comment on political matters; we are a humanitarian development organisation. I hope the Senator understands why I will refrain from answering that part of his question other than to say that the heads of the major UN agencies - including Anthony Lake of the United Nations Children’s Fund, UN Under-Secretary General Valerie Amos, and the High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres - have issued a joint appeal to the world’s political leaders to come together to solve the problem. We are very supportive of the Geneva II process as part of the strategy to break the logjam in Syria.

The Senator’s final question related to the response from the European Union. When I visited the Za’atari camp I saw a great deal of evidence of the funding provided by the Euro- pean Community Humanitarian Office. I confess, however, that I do not know much about the willingness or otherwise of European countries to take in Syrian refugees. Sadly, significant numbers of those coming via north Africa into southern Italy are dying in the process. I can only observe that nobody fleeing a conflict of this nature in search of a better life should meet that fate.

Chairman: I thank Mr. Power for his powerful presentation and members for their power- ful questions. It is an issue to which we will return in the coming weeks. I agree that we must learn from what happened in Haiti. I remember Mr. Power visiting that country when he was Minister of State. As I also recall, large amounts of money were pledged in the aftermath of that disaster, but some donors failed subsequently to cough up what was promised. I agree that once the images of the tragedy in the Philippines disappear from the television screens, the story will also disappear. There is a huge rebuilding effort to be undertaken and we wish Mr. Power and his colleagues at UNICEF well in their work, as we do all the other NGOs. We will keep the reconstruction of the Philippines on the agenda for our work programme in 2014. The simi- larities with Haiti are powerful, given that the typhoon in the Philippines was almost twice as bad as what happened in Haiti. We hope the donations will keep flowing in to help the Filipino Government, the UN agencies and the NGOs to rebuild the lives of the Filipino people in the islands that were devastated by the typhoon.

19 US Immigration Reform: Discussion I thank the witnesses for attending the meeting. We expect to keep in touch with them about UNICEF’s activities.

Mr. Peter Power: I thank the Chairman and members.

US Immigration Reform: Discussion

Chairman: We will proceed to No. 3 on our agenda, US immigration reform. I put this issue on the agenda because we will be dealing with the report on the visit in private session later. Many of the members are interested in getting an update on what is happening on immi- gration reform in the US at present. An all-party delegation of four members of the committee travelled to the US last October. The members were Deputy Nash, Senator Daly, Deputy Crowe and myself.

We went there at what we believed to be a very appropriate time to lobby members of the US Congress on immigration reform. The US Senate passed a Bill earlier in the summer by 68 votes to 22, so the issue was on the agenda for Congress when it returned in September. Unfor- tunately, due to events in Syria, it was postponed to later in the year. However, we were there at a very good time. The climate was ripe. We met ten or 15 very good congressmen from the Republicans as well as the Democrats. The focus of the visit was on the Republicans to get them to push for immigration reform. As we all know, however, a week is a long time in politics and since then the focus has moved to the Democrats because of Obamacare. The Republicans are in no hurry to take Obamacare off the agenda, which means, unfortunately, immigration reform has gone off the agenda.

We thought at the time there was a window of opportunity from Thanksgiving to Christ- mas to push for immigration reform. We did not expect to get full citizenship on the agenda so a number of the Bills we brought before Congress were mainly to do with legalisation. The Democrats would be pushing for citizenship because they believe the Latino vote will be on their side for the presidential elections while, of course, the Republicans do not want that to happen. We thought there would be a compromise, that a bipartisan approach would be taken and that a Bill on legalisation, perhaps, could be put before Congress before Christmas. It ap- pears unlikely that will happen before Christmas, but it certainly has not gone off the agenda. I believe we should push to keep immigration reform on the agenda for the committee for the coming months, particularly in our work programme for 2014.

I commend the embassy in the US, Anne Anderson, Ralph Victory and the other personnel in the embassy for the work they are doing. While we were doing our bit there for three or four days, the embassy is pushing this agenda all the time and will be meeting key congressmen and their staff over the coming months.

I believe our visit was very successful. The up-to-date information we have from Wash- ington is that it is highly unlikely anything will happen on immigration reform before Christ- mas. While there is a window of opportunity in the new year, there will be other issues to be discussed in Congress as well. Aside from Obamacare, there are budget issues. Congressman Paul Ryan is the chairman of that committee. The budget issue has been postponed but it will be on the agenda early in the new year. In addition, the elections in November take precedence and a number of primaries will take place in March, April and May, so there will be a small window of opportunity to push for immigration reform. On 17 March the Taoiseach will visit

20 Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade Washington and that issue will again be at the top of the agenda.

The visit was worthwhile. As one congressman told me, ours is the only country that lob- bied congressmen on immigration reform, despite that the undocumented Irish only account for 50,000 of the 11 million undocumented people in the US. There are not as many people cross- ing the border from Mexico at present. The Mexican economy is beginning to grow again so there is not the same pressure there. All eyes will be on the Republicans again to see if they can push this agenda. Perhaps people such as Congressman Gutiérrez of Illinois and Congressman Paul Ryan, whom we believe to be working together, can take a bipartisan approach to this, bring some type of legislation to Congress in the new year and put immigration reform back on the agenda.

That is the current position. The climate changes very quickly in Congress. At the time we thought there was a window of opportunity, but now the issue is Obamacare and the Republi- cans are in no hurry to put immigration reform back on the agenda. Deputy Crowe travelled with us on that visit. Does he wish to comment on it? We will deal with the report in private session.

Deputy Seán Crowe: Like others, we were unsure of the timing of the visit. It had been postponed because of the situation in Syria and our visit occurred immediately after the Re- publicans were forced to agree to a temporary budget. Many of the Republicans in Congress appeared to be quite raw about that decision and how it was rolled out.

Other members of the delegation can speak for themselves but I was quite optimistic return- ing from the visit. We went over not knowing the potential but we returned with the feeling that it was still there to be won. It is wide open with regard to the lobby and I am quite optimistic we can push this across the line. I have been involved on this when there were great expectations that it would happen at the time, but it did not. If people are listening to this at home, they are probably wondering if they will be told again there is potential, only to have their hopes dashed. It makes sense, so logic is on our side.

President Obama said there is the time to do it. I do not know if his speech when we were there helped the situation. I expressed my view to some of the Democrats and his officials that if he would stay out of it, it might help the situation. Across the board, however, the people we met want a deal to happen. I was struck when one Republican congressman said to me: “If something is on the table, I can argue for or against it, but there is nothing there. It is a vacuum. I cannot go back to my constituency and argue one way or the other.” People genuinely want it to happen. We have many friends there.

It was definitely a worthwhile trip. It involved many meetings but one could see we were having an impact. I concur with the Chairman about the work of the embassy. The ambassador has really taken on the issue. While she is not long in her appointment, there has been nothing but praise for her work from Congressmen and the different emigrant groups. Politicians want to hear that our embassy staff are working on the ground and that everyone has his or her shoul- der to the wheel. Many were telling us to keep it up and encourage people to use the contacts and lobbies available.

Deputy Brendan Smith: It is welcome that the delegation was engaged in an intense lob- bying exercise with officials of the US Administration and Congress Members. We all want to see the matter progressed because not one week goes by without us receiving representations from families who wish to have the immigration status of a family member regularised. It is a

21 US Immigration Reform: Discussion difficult position to be in for many of those affected because they are not in a position to return home for family occasions, be they celebratory or bereavements.

The electoral cycle in the United States passes quickly and is a point of concern in resolving this issue. Several months ago when we discussed this matter with the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, we were all agreed that when election mode kicked in in the United States, the level of collaboration to put through immigration reform legislation would decline. There is a two-year cycle for the House of Representatives and some Senators. What- ever has to be done must be done as quickly as possible. Every day lost makes it more difficult. What other lobbying can be engaged in to keep this matter on the agenda? I have always had confidence in our diplomatic staff and their capacity to network and talk to the real decision- makers and people of influence.

Senator Michael Mullins: It is good to hear the meeting went well and that the group seems to be making progress, with Deputy Seán Crowe being up-beat and optimistic. It is con- cerning that the political cycle is so short in the United States as one is always heading into an election of some description. Earlier I heard the Irish were the only grouping for the undocu- mented lobbying on the issue. It would be a help if other groupings were lobbying because this could bring more pressure on the politicians. It is incumbent on all Members to make contact with their relevant US counterparts on this issue and push for immigration reform legislation. Many families have loved ones who are not in a position to return home for family occasions, be they weddings or funerals. As Deputy Brendan Smith said, there is nothing on the table for people to either argue for or against.

Chairman: If we had a proposal on the table, we would be flying high.

Senator Jim Walsh: I thank the Chairman and Deputy Seán Crowe for their report. We have to keep trying, but there have been many false dawns on this issue. Can anything be done to separate the Irish from the rest? I recall that the former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and the for- mer Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, raised this matter with George W. Bush when they met him in the White House. Mr. Bush was positive about looking after the number of Irish involved because they came to only 50,000 in number. That was until his adviser told him at the meeting about the 6 million Mexicans in Texas, which changed the dynamics. Is there an opportunity to go for a bilateral arrangement with the United States similar to the one reached between the United States and Australia? We need more than just the single strand of trying to get all 11 million illegal immigrants across the line.

Chairman: There was a proposal in the Senate legislation that 10,500 E3 visas would be issued every year. We did not push this because it would have been part of the pre-conference. We were told that if a bipartisan approach was taken on the issue, six Bills would be put to the Senate, with one of which most of the undocumented Irish would be happy. If this legislation was referred to the Senate, it would be dealt with in a pre-conference with Senate and Congress leaders. John Boehner, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has said, however, that unless he has a majority, he will not put anything through. That is the obstacle we are up against. It must be remembered that for Tea Party Republicans, immigration reform are red letter words in their states. If they were to mention anything about immigration reform, their chances of being re-elected would be zero. As one Congressman told me, if our Lord our God came looking for a visa, he would refuse Him.

Senator Jim Walsh: He sounds like some members of our Government.

22 Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade Chairman: We will not comment on that.

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan: Deputy Brendan Smith is correct that there is always a dan- ger we could fall between stools on this issue which has been ongoing for years. I am not so sure we need to isolate the Irish from the other undocumented. We can claim a certain prior- ity because of the commitment of the Irish to the United States for many years. I know the point that has been made about the Mexicans. Several years ago I met a US Congressman who wanted to put a wire fence between Mexico and the United States.

We need to be mindful that persons who are stateless in another land are always open to exploitation. It can also happen in this country. A case must be made internationally for the recognition of their entitlements, including access to their human rights. I agree entirely with Deputy Smith in that area. We need to be doing it on a continual basis, and not apologising for it either. There should be no apology for this. There are countless persons in my constituency who can never come home, who can never leave there. The fact that they are trapped there is a clear indication. If they show themselves at all, they are gone forever and that leaves them open to exploitation.

I would not be at all apologetic. We made considerable sacrifices as a nation to the United States over the years. There was a significant commitment. I can remember when I was a child seeing guys coming home from the Korean War. I was talking to a guy the other night who was in Dien Bien Phu in French Indochina. We had something of a commitment. There are those who talk about Ireland as a neutral nation with no international commitments, etc. We paid our price, however, and we deserve to be treated as such as well.

Chairman: We will be returning to this in the report in any event. We will keep this high on the agenda and we will return to it in the new year when we hope there will be another window of opportunity for some form of immigration reform to be tabled in the United States Congress.

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan: Can we invite a group of them over here to see us?

Chairman: Invite a group of whom?

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan: Of members of the United States Congress.

Chairman: It is highly unlikely one will get any members of Congress over unless they are on official business-----

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan: We can invite them.

Chairman: -----because they will all be looking at re-election in the new year.

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan: We went over there.

Chairman: It is also a busy time during which they will be preparing budgets. Deputy Durkan will be aware of what went on with the budget.

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan: It is a busy time here too. The Chairman should go over and bring a few of them over here.

Chairman: The committee will be aware of what went on in September with the United States budget and the crisis that arose. There will be an opportunity from time to time for mem- bers of Congress who pass through this country and stop off here. If they do so, we will try to

23 US Immigration Reform: Discussion meet them.

Deputy Brendan Smith: Some years ago there used be biannual visits, between the foreign relations committee of the Congress and this committee and the Oireachtas in general. There were visits to the United States one year and they visited here another year. Is that arrangement gone by the wayside?

Chairman: We can talk to the United States Embassy.

Deputy Brendan Smith: It was a useful one. It was an annual visit.

Chairman: We can talk to the US embassy official, Mr. Stuart Dwyer, in that regard. As the committee will be aware, we do not yet have an ambassador. It has been almost 12 months. I suppose if a new ambassador was appointed early in the new year, we could invite him or her to an informal meeting and put that top of the agenda as well.

Deputy Brendan Smith: I support Deputy Durkan’s suggestion. If we could get or encour- age a visit by a member of Congress to us here, it would be useful.

Chairman: We will try for that but I would say they have other priorities at present. I ask Senator Walsh to be brief because I want to go into private session.

Senator Jim Walsh: The Chairman raised an important point about the non-appointment of an ambassador from the United States for over 12 months. That seems extraordinary, given that we are supposed to have good relations with the United States. The fact that they would leave the embassy without an ambassador for that length of time indicates a certain detachment or disconnection. I do not know whether it is even within our remit but we should be making our views known, either to the Department or to the embassy staff.

I would regard that as not a good indicator of President Obama’s interest. We have received tremendous support from Administrations in the United States in recent times but the Obama Administration has not given any indication of any real interest in Ireland.

Chairman: I suggest we raise that issue with the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Gilmore, at the next meeting with him.

Senator Jim Walsh: That is not good enough. If it is the view of the committee - it is cer- tainly my view - and there is a consensus among us, I ask that we convey it to the Department and take guidance from it.

Chairman: I suggest that at the next meeting we ask the Tánaiste to raise the issue of an ambassador at the highest level. Is that agreed? Agreed. That should be fine. I propose we go into private session. Is that agreed? Agreed.

The joint committee went into private session at 4.34 p.m. and adjourned at 4.37 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 4 December 2013.

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