IRELAND TO ATTEND UNOCHA TSUNAMI DONOR CONFERENCE

UNCLAS DUBLIN 000019

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR TASK FORCE TFX001

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AEMR EAID PGOV
SUBJECT: IRELAND TO ATTEND UNOCHA TSUNAMI DONOR CONFERENCE

REF: A. 04 DUBLIN 1848

B. DUBLIN 4

C. O'SULLIVAN-O'MALLEY E-MAIL OF 1/5/05


1. On January 10, Post delivered reftel talking points to
Thomas Brady, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Principal
Officer for Consular Operations, who had provided information
for refs A and B. Brady noted that Mary Whelan, Irish
Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, and Kiera O'Brien, First
Secretary of Development Corporation Ireland (DCI, Ireland's

SIPDIS
official aid agency, a division of the DFA),would
participate in the January 11 UNOCHA Tsunami Donor Conference
in Geneva. Brady said that the Irish Government's assistance
pledge for tsunami-affected areas stood at euro 10 million,
although Irish NGOs, which have raised over euro 20 million
privately, were pressuring the GOI to pledge more. Brady
pointed out that Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern and DCI
Director General Roland Murphy had toured Phuket on January 9
with a GOI needs assessment team and the heads of the four
major Irish aid NGOs: Concern, GOAL, Trocaire, and the Irish
Red Cross. The group was scheduled to tour Aceh on January
10 and Sri Lanka the following day.


2. In terms of a consular update, Brady noted that one Irish
citizen had been confirmed dead and that three others were
presumed dead. Over the weekend of January 7, the number of
"urgent cases" involving persons unaccounted for had narrowed
from 15 (ref B) to 2. There remained roughly 40 cases in
which DFA had received calls about persons who were believed
to have been in the countries affected. In only 2 of the
cases, however, had family members made the calls. Brady
mentioned that FM Ahern had announced the opening of a
consular office in Phuket to assist Irish citizens in the
area. On January 9, Ahern had also visited a victim
identification center in Phuket, where Irish forensics
experts were working with Thai authorities on DNA comparisons.
KENNY