Irish response: Ireland has not sent the 30 soldiers or emergency aid it offered to help victims of Hurricane Katrina as the Government has received no request from the US authorities.
An Army spokesman said the troops were brought together at the Curragh, issued with special kit and briefed on their mission, after the Government committed them to the aid effort in New Orleans and other southern US towns stricken by the hurricane.
"There hasn't been a request from the Americans," the spokesman said. "It's unlikely our men will be going now, although they can be reassembled at short notice if the situation changes."
The soldiers, specialists in logistics, water purification and engineering, prepared over three days and were then dispatched back to their units across Ireland when no direct request for them was made.
The spokesman also said that 3,000 vacuum-packed meals intended for the US were still stacked in McKee Barracks in Dublin. "They will not go to waste. Their sell-by date goes well into 2007."
The €1 million pledged by the Government is helping the Katrina relief effort. Other aid offered included first-aid kits, pillows and blankets. Crutches and wheelchairs were also offered.
Fine Gael Foreign Affairs spokesman Bernard Allen accused the Government of "playing to the gallery of populism" with a knee-jerk decision to offer aid without consultation.
"The affair demonstrates a lack of organisation within the department and by the Minister," Mr Allen said. "It indicates that the US was self-sufficient and there was serious lack of communication between it and the Department of Foreign Affairs."
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said €700,000 had been passed on to the Red Cross. The rest was being distributed by the Irish Embassy in Washington to community organisations.
The soldiers and supplies were pledged in response to an official request on September 4th for assistance from the US authorities to the EU. Ireland's response to the EU co-ordinators was sent within 24 hours, but there was no follow-up request from the US.