State plane delivers largest consignment of supplies

A GOVERNMENT-leased plane leaves for Haiti today with 80,000 tonnes of aid for the victims of the earthquake, one of the largest consignments of humanitarian supplies ever provided directly by the state.

A team of four experts and two trained in logistics and IT are also travelling and Development Minister Peter Power said other experts are on standby to go if needed.

Ireland’s first aid shipment includes plastic shelters, mosquito nets, water and sanitation products for 8,000 families in response to the need to create tented villages away from the city centre where the greatest damage has occurred, Mr Power said.