Minister Costello announces an additional €3 million funding to the Philippines

Minister Costello announces an additional €3 million funding to the Philippines

The Minister for Trade and Development, Joe Costello T.D., announced an additional €3 million in assistance to communities affected by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines during a visit today to Tacloban.  

The funding will support local efforts to build shelters and re-establish people’s livelihoods, particularly in fishing and agriculture and for protection activities for those traumatised by the disaster. More than 14 million people were affected by the typhoon which struck in November 2013.  

This funding brings Ireland’s total contribution to the typhoon response to more than €7 million. 

Minister Costello, who is visiting Tacloban today, said:  

“I am shocked by the scale of destruction in Tacloban and the surrounding areas of Leyte Island. It is only when you see it at first-hand, that the enormity of the task becomes clear. 

“Although an enormous amount has been achieved over the past four months, including through Irish-funded programmes implemented by our partner organisations, millions of people still require urgent assistance to rebuild their lives and livelihoods. Irish Aid is continuing to monitor the needs on the ground with our partners and I will continue to work with other donors and the international community to ensure that progress is made in recovery and reconstruction, while also addressing the immediate needs of the population. 

“This funding underlines Ireland’s continuing commitment to supporting the Philippines government and the communities devastated by Typhoon Haiyan.  Ireland is committed to supporting the Philippines over the longer term, particularly as international attention has shifted elsewhere. This contribution will help to ensure that the typhoon-affected communities can rebuild their livelihoods and strengthen their resilience in the face of future shocks that will most certainly affect the region”. 

Press Office 

20 March 2014 

 Note to editors:

 •  Irish Aid is the Government’s overseas development programme. It is managed by the Development Cooperation Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

 •  Over €2.6 million in funding has been provided through our key NGO partners (Christian Aid, Goal, Oxfam, Medecins Sans Frontières, Plan Ireland, Trócaire and World Vision). This funding is being used for the provision of emergency food and non-

food items; water, sanitation and hygiene; emergency health care and, protection of vulnerable women and children

 •  Ireland also authorised four airlifts of essential relief items from our emergency pre-positioned stocks.  The total amount of essential relief items provided by Ireland was 166 tonnes, valued at approximately 967,000 Euros in total. These items included shelter, water and hygiene supplies such as tents, blankets, buckets, water tanks and soap. 

•  Irish Aid maintains the Rapid Response Corps, a register of highly-skilled individuals who are willing to be deployed at short notice to assist in an emergency relief effort. Five members of Ireland's Rapid Response Corps deployed to UN agencies in the Philippines. Two engineers, including an Irish Defence Forces Captain, supported the World Food Programme’s (WFP) operations in addition to an information management specialist deployed to support UNICEF. An additional engineer joined

WFP and a civil-military coordination officer also deployed to support the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).   

•  The Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine also contributed 500,000 Euros to the relief efforts through the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)  to support FAO’s emergency activities to restore the livelihoods of farmers affected by the Typhoon.