Donations flood into Irish charities

DONATIONS for earthquake-stricken Haiti flooded into Irish charities yesterday as rescue workers on the ground struggled to help survivors and deliver much-needed aid to the country.

Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin wrote to the UN secretary general yesterday expressing his sadness at the loss of life. He added: “The Irish Government is committed to supporting the international relief effort now being mounted under UN coordination.”

The Government is to freight 85 tonnes of emergency supplies to Haiti as part of the international aid effort. Supplies will be given to Concern and Goal for distribution to 8,000 families. The consignment includes mosquito nets, essential plastic sheeting for shelter and water tanks.

Three members of Ireland’s Rapid Response Corps will deploy to Haiti over the coming days, while 35 members remain on standby. Two Corps members, an electrical engineer and an IT expert, will work with the World Food Programme. The third Corps member is a Defence Forces’ engineer who is a UN-trained disaster expert.

Ireland has pledged €2 million in Government emergency funding.

Overseas Development Minister Peter Power will travel to Brussels on Monday for an emergency meeting of EU Development Ministers.

Concern staff from Ireland began arriving at the capital yesterday while 19 of its aid workers were still missing. The Irish charity said aid was delayed and shipping was not possible due to destroyed port facilities.

Oxfam Ireland said a horrific picture of need was emerging and the most immediate problem was access to clean water.

Irish rugby star and Ambassador for UNICEF Ireland Donncha O’Callaghan said of the three million people affected half of those were children. President Mary McAleese said the country could only imagine the grief Haiti was experiencing. Irish charity Haven said that it and partner charity GOAL had made huge progress setting up an emergency relief centre on Haiti.

Charity details and donations to date:

- Concern Worldwide, 1850-410510 or through Concern.net €750,000

- GOAL, 01-2809779 or through Goal.ie €350,000

- UNICEF Ireland, 01-8783000 or through Unicef.ie €220,000

- Médecins Sans Frontières, 1800 905 509 or through MSF.ie €950,000 (ROI and GB)

- The Irish Red Cross, 1850-507070 or through Redcross.ie €210,000

- Haven, 01 4333930 or through havenpartnership.com €48,000

- Oxfam Ireland, 1850 30 40 55 or through oxfamireland.org n/a