Mr. Éamonn Meehan:

Thank you. I very much welcome the invitation to address the joint committee. It provides me with an opportunity to acknowledge personally the very valuable work of the committee on development issues, consider the new responsibility the committee has been given in overseeing Ireland's progress on policy coherence for development and update members on Trócaire's views and responses to current sectoral domestic issues and positions on key international challenges, especially climate change. Following last year's publication of the policy for international development, One World, One Future, we now await the outcome of the most significant review of Ireland's foreign policy and external relations since 1996. The review of foreign policy represents a key opportunity to reaffirm Ireland's core values and principles as set out in One World, One Future and to integrate these into Ireland's foreign policy for the future.

The review takes place in a context where the scale and complexity of current and emerging challenges are formidable. The impacts of global economic and environmental challenges are compounded in developing countries when poor governance and failed institutions accentuate economic and social inequalities, facilitating resource grabbing by elite interests and further institutionalising exclusion, poverty and corruption. In Ireland, the delay in implementing charities legislation and appointing a charities regulator has compounded an already difficult operating environment for charitable organisations. I am happy to address the ways in which Trócaire has responded to this governance vacuum in more detail. Members will have received some information in a background briefing note describing how Trócaire works, our programme approach, thematic programme areas, the countries we work in, finance and auditing standards and changes at board and executive level in 2013. In the interests of saving time, I will focus on a small number of key issues in three of our programmes in respect of which action by the joint committee would be most welcome.

First, I wish to highlight climate change. Trócaire's sustainable livelihoods and environmental justice programme seeks practical ways to support people's right to food, a livelihood and to make a living. Progress towards food security and poverty reduction is becoming increasingly difficult in the face of ever more unpredictable climatic events and the woefully insufficient action to tackle climate change by those most responsible for causing it. In recent years, we have witnessed at first hand how frequent and severe climatic events like storms and droughts disproportionately impact the world's most vulnerable people. Global leaders have awoken to the seriousness of climate change given the recent experiences with extreme weather in Ireland, the USA and the UK.

However, to date action by policy makers at all levels has been slow and insufficient. Ireland must do its part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Publication of the long awaited climate change Bill is expected before Easter. The outline heads of the Bill, published in February 2013 can be improved. Based on extensive public hearings, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht recommended in a report published in November 2013 a number of ways to improve the Bill. In light of the role of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade on policy coherence for development, I encourage members to support the findings of that report and, through appropriate channels, encourage the Minister, Deputy Hogan, to reflect its findings in the Bill. In particular, the Bill should incorporate a national objective for 2050 of near-zero emissions from energy, buildings and transport, carbon neutrality in agriculture and ensure the expert advisory body follows the model of the fiscal advisory council.

To put matters in context, I have just returned from Zimbabwe where I visited subsistence farming communities in the Matobo region of Matabeleland. Trócaire commissioned research recently into the impact of climate change on rural communities in Zimbabwe. Using meteorological data going back to 1970, the researchers have shown that the mean maximum temperature for Matobo district has risen from 25.8o between 1970 and 1980 to 26.9o between 2000 and 2008. At the same time, the figures show a decline in mean rainfall patterns from 707 mm between 1970 and 1980 to 476 mm between 2000 and 2010. The frequency of dry agricultural seasons is increasing. A continuation of this trend will make agriculture and food production impossible in this region and other parts of Zimbabwe. Responding to climate change is no longer a choice but the effectiveness of how we do so is very much within our control.

The joint committee has taken a strong interest in violations of human rights around the world. As such, I wish to draw the attention of members to two issues within our governance and human rights programme. The first is one with which members will be familiar, that is the ongoing human rights issues in the occupied Palestinian territories. I visited Israel, the West Bank and Gaza in January and witnessed the ongoing and systematic displacement of Palestinians. Many are being forced off their land due to the construction of Israel's separation wall, the ongoing demolition of Palestinian houses and the expansion of Israeli settlements. It was striking that the settlements are expanding at such a rate and construction was evident across the West Bank. There are now more than 500,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Despite the current US-led peace negotiations, the Israeli Government has continued to expand settlements in recent months with successive announcements of the construction of thousands of new housing units. Furthermore, according to UN data, 286 Palestinian structures have been demolished since 28 July 2013 when negotiations started.

These actions are illegal under international law and are undermining the fragile negotiation process. Greater action is needed by European governments to ensure pressure is put on Israel to abide by international law. The timing is critical to support the process and prevent the talks from collapsing. European leverage at this moment could have a very positive impact. The joint committee has already endorsed the proposal of an EU trade ban with Israeli settlements. The Tánaiste has also publicly supported such a proposal. Achieving an EU consensus on banning settlement trade may not be realistically achievable in the short term. Ireland, however, should consider demonstrating leadership by taking action at national level. In recent months, the Dutch and UK governments have taken steps to introduce official government advice to their private sectors regarding the risks involved in having commercial links with Israeli settlements and being potentially implicated in violations of international law. We encourage the Irish Government to do likewise and issue formal advice to importers and other businesses to refrain from purchasing settlement goods and to avoid all commercial and investment links with the settlements. Many commentators have raised concerns that this may be the last chance for peace negotiations for some time.

I refer briefly to a second issue, which is the premature end of the term of office of Guatemala's Attorney General. The issue is outlined in the briefing note we circulated. Ireland has a direct interest in this issue as it has funded the UN's International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala. The early termination of the term of office of the Attorney General is a matter of concern. We ask the joint committee to take the matter up with the Tánaiste and to ask him in turn to take the matter up with his counterpart, Guatemala's Minister for foreign affairs.

The final issues to highlight today arise in the context of our humanitarian programme. Trócaire's humanitarian work continues to address needs created by both natural and man-made crises. We support humanitarian programmes in more than 20 countries with a variety of national and international NGO partners. Natural catastrophes such as Typhoon Haiyan in the Phillipines mobilised very significant resources. The task we face there, while daunting, is not complex or dangerous. Complex and protracted crises in Syria, Sudan and Somalia require ongoing public interest and political engagement. Today, I draw particular attention to the complex crisis in Syria and the hidden crisis in South Kordofan, Sudan.

Since 2011, more than 130,000 Syrian people have been killed from what started as peaceful civil action. In the bloodiest chapter of the Arab Spring, Syria has become the battlefield for a proxy war. The action and inaction of many has turned a stable country into a humanitarian disaster that is affecting the wider region. More than 2 million people, mainly women and children, have fled to Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Turkey and Lebanon. It is worth noting that the UN appeal for $6.5 billion to support the people of Syria has been funded to the tune of 11%. That is shocking and unacceptable. Trócaire continues to deepen its engagement with Caritas and local partners working in the region. Distribution of food, water, basic cooking utensils, clothing, sanitary material, mattresses and blankets has taken place to several hundred thousand people while access to health care and psycho-social support for the most vulnerable and education for children have been supported. With more than 4 million people displaced internally and little regard for those trapped between battle lines, the crisis appears intractable. Ireland's response to the crisis has been to allocate €19 million in humanitarian assistance and a commitment to allow 90 Syrians refugee status here.

The scale of the humanitarian crisis demands a greater openness by Ireland to welcoming a larger number of Syrian refugees to this country.

The armed conflict in Sudan’s South Kordofan state between the Sudanese Government and armed opposition group, the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Army-North, continues unabated, to the detriment of the civilian population. The conflict in South Sudan has diverted international attention and complicated the difficult task of ensuring assistance continues to the people of the Nuba Mountains and South Kordofan because the access routes to the Nuba Mountains and South Kordofan are through South Sudan. As I address the committee today, 270,000 people require food, water and medical assistance. It is crucial that the international community supports the humanitarian response in South Kordofan and highlights this appalling situation in international fora.

I thank the Chairman and the committee for this opportunity to engage with them on the work of Trócaire.