Mr Éamonn Meehan:

Deputy Neville referred to the pressures on countries in the Middle East from refugee populations. He mentioned Palestinian refugees in Jordan and Syrian refugees. The situation in Syria has generated a massive refugee crisis. I was in Lebanon in June last year and it was interesting to get a range of perspectives on the issue. At that time, there were probably close to 1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, a country with a population in the region of 4 million.

While many took seriously their humanitarian responsibility to keep open the borders and try to look after these people, an attitude was also emerging that this could not continue and many feared that the stability of Lebanon was being undermined by the influx of refugees who were taking accommodation and jobs and undercutting local Lebanese people in terms of pay for work. This is an emerging crisis. As was noted, the Palestinian refugee crisis dates back to the mid-1940s. If the current circumstances in Syria are not resolved relatively quickly, the Syrian refugees in Lebanon could remain in the country for a decade or more. While I am not sure how to resolve the crisis, it is certainly very dangerous.

Deputy Durkan asked whether people always receive the aid provided. As a non-governmental organisation working with local civil society in 17 countries, we do our utmost, through due diligence, to ensure people receive the aid provided through our programmes. There is no doubt, however, that in many developing countries institutions of the state, government and public service do not always work in the best interests of all citizens. In many cases, state capture of resources occurs, which is a problem. Among the issues that require serious attention in any attempt to promote development are the quality of governance and the control of the resources of the state. I have observed that one of the key problems in many of the countries I visit is that relatively small numbers of people are vastly wealthy, while masses of others have limited resources and many of them do not have jobs. In Zimbabwe, for instance, I was informed that 90% of the population is unemployed or employed in subsistence agriculture. The number of people employed in the formal economy is tiny.

I was asked how we respond to the menu of crises and if we are dragged all over the place. Sometimes we find ourselves overwhelmed. For instance, within a period of approximately seven months only a couple of years ago, an earthquake struck Haiti, the Horn of Africa experienced a food crisis involving about five countries and Pakistan suffered massive flooding. While we responded to all of these crises and members of the public supported us very generously, they place us under considerable pressure.