Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Deputy Smith that the EU must continue to do more and, indeed, intensify its engagement in tackling the continued threat of terrorism. That involves a multilateral approach on a range of issues, including information and intelligence sharing, international passenger name recognition, the availability of firearms in member states, and a response in the criminal justice area. That project is ongoing. Member states must continue to ensure that we speak with one voice on the issue.

On the question of the EU's trust fund for Africa, Deputy Smith is right to say that the proposed sum is €3 million over five years. The Irish position is that we are actively engaged in designing projects under the fund, especially in the east African region. This is a total fund in excess of €1.8 billion. Ireland will continue to play a positive role in relieving many of the challenges of this region.

The figure of 60 million displaced people obviously changes from time to time. It is, however, true to say that all international agencies agree that this is a crisis the level of which has not been seen since the end of the Second World War. The total has gone from an estimated 52 million to almost 60 million. It is very difficult to provide an accurate figure, but the range from 50 million to 60 million - it is 60 million plus from some sources - is indicative of the real and serious crisis we are facing.

On the important issue of travel advice, I assure the committee that the travel advice for individual countries is reviewed on an ongoing basis. It is publicly available on the Department's website and its official Twitter account. The advice is made available to Irish citizens so that they can make well-informed decisions. As well as adhering to the advice, however, we would also encourage people travelling to regions where there may well be potential difficulties to register their details with the Department.