Ms Helen Keogh:

I will ask Ms Sheila Garry to respond to some of these questions also.

The issues in South Sudan, which is the newest country in the world, have been going on for many years. We want to work there but every single day there are issues for our staff there so it is very difficult for us to engage very publicly on a political level.

That is the reason we make presentations, as we are doing here today, and in this instance to appeal to the Government to do whatever it can to address these issues within the EU. We find in all the countries we work in, particularly in Africa, that the Irish Government, of whatever hue it may be, is very highly regarded because our aid programme is probably regarded as one of the best in the world.

If I were to say at this forum what we in World Vision Ireland believe a political solution would be, the fear, from our point of view, is that we would be compromised in some way, which would be very inhibiting and frustrating for us, in dealing with the people who are in such dire need. We advocate to Government, the UN and so on. Our senior people within that country deal with the government there but it is always in an informal manner. There are glaring issues sometimes that we wish to speak out about but that would put our workers in danger, which is very frustrating for us. However, we continue to advocate. We are grateful for this opportunity because this committee has a remit to inform Government. Given that the aid programme is in place, the Government is in a position perhaps to address these issues within the EU or directly with the South Sudan Government. The situation is very complex. It is heartbreaking for us to see a deterioration when we have worked for so hard for so long and have seen progress. Perhaps Ms Sheila Garry would like to speak about some of the detail of that work as she has been working there for many years.