THE FIRST visit to Ireland by a president of Haiti is set to be the highlight of a week of fundraising events for the Caribbean country later this month.
Michel Martelly, who assumed office last May, will be in Dublin on January 27th during the first Haiti Week, organised by seven Irish charities to raise awareness for the country, the poorest in the western hemisphere.
Yesterday marked the second anniversary of the catastrophic earthquake that lasted just 35 seconds but killed at least 230,000 people and displaced more than 1.2 million. Two years on, more than 600,000 people are still living in camps and half the rubble has yet to be moved.
Ireland has made a substantial contribution to the reconstruction effort through Government aid and the work of individual agencies. In addition, businessman Denis O’Brien personally financed the reconstruction of the historic Iron Market in the capital, Port-au-Prince, while his mobile phone company Digicel is the largest employer in the country. Digicel has rebuilt 50 schools and plans to rebuild another 80 by 2014.
Mr O’Brien, who could not attend yesterday’s launch because of business commitments, also co-ordinates the activities in Haiti of the Clinton Global Foundation set up by former US president Bill Clinton.
Haiti Week, which was announced by Mr Clinton last October and runs from January 21st to 28th, will include art exhibitions, an entrepreneurship programme, film screening, investment conference, concerts and a gala ball at the Four Seasons Hotel. The seven charities coming together are Haven, Concern, Soul of Haiti, Goal, Habitat for Humanity, Plan International and Unicef.
Leslie Buckley, founder of Haven and a business associate of Mr O’Brien’s, said the visit of President Martelly demonstrated how important Ireland’s work in Haiti was. “Two years after the devastating earthquake, hundreds of thousands of people are still living in appalling conditions but progress, though slow, has been made.”
Minister for Arts Jimmy Deenihan said it was inspiring to see the arts, music and business communities coming together to support a genuine cause.
Separately, Minister of State for Trade and Development Joe Costello, said the remaining money Ireland had pledged to assist Haiti would be released in the coming months.
Mr Costello, who assumed responsibility for the overseas aid budget when he was appointed last month, said that €11.5 million of the €13 million pledged by the Government for the period 2010-12 had been provided to help families to access clean water, shelter and sanitation.
