The Government is to help fund an early-warning system for tsunamis and earthquakes in South-East Asia as part of its €20 million aid programme for countries affected by last December's disaster.
At last Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, Ministers were briefed by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern on the €11 million spent to date on emergency relief work in more than five countries hit by the tsunami.
He told colleagues that an early-warning system would be one of the funding priorities for the remaining €9 million committed by the Government to the relief effort. This money would be spent on longer-term projects . It is envisaged that, to provide accountability, the money will be invested in international trust funds, to which other countries will also contribute.
A specialist has been employed by the Department of Foreign Affairs to help to identify projects to support. These will focus on improving education, health, water and sanitation resources in the affected countries.
A spokesman for Mr Ahern said yesterday that a funding priority for the Government would be to contribute towards the establishment of an early-warning system.
"Having seen at first hand the bodies piled on the roadsides post-tsunami, the Minister believes that an early earthquake warning system is vital, and the Irish Government will be contributing financially towards a system. . . " the spokesman said.
A basic system, establishing a communications network, would cost less than €10 million, but other more sophisticated systems could run into hundreds of millions.
Of the €20 million spent by the Government, a total of €1.6 million has been donated to India and 994,000 to Indonesia, while €4.1 million has been spent in the South Asia region and 1.75 million in Sri Lanka. A further 1 million was given through the World Food Programme.
Mr Ahern is to bring forward plans later this year for a rapid reaction civilian response group, consisting of various experts who could travel at short notice to disaster zones to help relief efforts.
Meanwhile, the Irish Red Cross has signed an agreement to build a €3 million hospital in Sri Lanka, which will be financed by Irish donations to the tsunami fund.
The hospital will be built in Kellar, close to Batticaloa, and will serve 90,000 people whose local hospital was destroyed in last December's disaster.