Dan Neville (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When visiting Ethiopia last year, we visited one of the camps so we have first-hand knowledge of the experience of people who were forced to leave their jobs and businesses, whose families were broken up, who had to go through wooded areas because of the fear of exposure to air strikes and who had to travel on foot for months with children. I was impressed by the resilience of those people. We spent several hours with them and saw the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees doing some excellent work.

One would have to reflect on the fact that we saw canvas tents suitable for approximately three people with maybe 12 or 15 people in them. People, especially young girls, expressed their worry and discomfort with the situation they were experiencing. It is necessary that we do all the things we do here but one cannot fully comprehend the situation without being there and talking to people about their experiences. All one man wanted to do was to get back to his village and open his business again. Other people did not know where members of their families were and whether they were alive. They said everything was broken up because the troops came and people just scattered. If somebody was away when people had to flee, they did not know what happened to that person. That is the human aspect of it.

It is important to keep people's attention on this because attention will move away from a difficult situation as people get accustomed to hearing the same story. We had experience of that with the Troubles in the North of Ireland when people said, "Not the North again" even though people were dying. One must be very careful to ensure the subject is fully understood and is kept in the focus of international attention. What is the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees doing in the two camps mentioned? What involvement has it? It was very good to us when we visited the camp in Ethiopia.