Ireland pledges €1.5m to WFP rapid-response programme

The Government has pledged an additional €1.5m to the United Nations' World Food Programme as part of an agreement signed in Dublin today.

The funding is being provided for the first phase of a rapid-response programme that will see Irish food aid despatched from depots in the Curragh and Italy within 48 hours of a humanitarian crisis.

An emergency register of Irish aid workers will also be compiled as part of the deal.