Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the commitment to providing more funding to UNRRA, especially in the light of the US decision to stop funding for its vital work.

The Minister of State mentioned an additional allocation of €2 million for the UN peace-building fund, and that it will coincide with Ireland's membership of the UN Secretary General's advisory group on peace building. Will the money be specifically directed at one peacekeeping issue, or is it pooled funding? Will he provide more details of our membership of the advisory group? How long will the membership be and when will we join?

I welcome the additional allocation of €5.5 million proposed for the global partnership for education. The Minister of State said much of it will be spent on education for girls. Will a specific amount be ring-fenced for girls? How will it operate? We know that girls face a greater variety of significant challenges in accessing education than boys.

On the multilateral assistance, the Minister of State said there will be a €3.5 million increase in the funding for the EU trust fund for Africa. I have expressed concern in the Dáil and elsewhere about this whole project. The EU policy on migration seems to be based on an inherent contradiction. On the one hand, there is acknowledgement of migration as a structural phenomenon with long-term implications, driven by deep development and governance shortcomings. On the other hand, the EU's reaction is for the most part tailored towards the short term. There has been an increased tendency to divert funds formerly allocated to European development co-operation to the task of migration management and border security, which are the elements about which I am most concerned.

The policy weakens the EU action in the realm of poverty reduction and good governance. Dr. Luca Barana, a researcher in the Piedmont centre for African studies in Turin, produced an excellent analysis of this. Libya shows how such short-term fixes largely ignore deeper structural challenges. Despite the chaotic situation on the ground, the EU has invested heavily in border and migration management in Libya. This also includes matters related to the coastguard. There was evidence given to the committee, in both public and private session, in regard to the armed militias, slavery, trafficking and so on. The aim is to prevent people leaving Libya to seek asylum, which is a human right, and to keep them there, despite it being clear that their human rights are being violated. According to current EU data, to date all EUTF contributions in north Africa, particularly Libya, have been devoted to the issue of migration management and control. Is that where the extra €3.5 million in Irish funding will go, or will it go to something else? I hope it will. We should stand against the increased focus on short-term security implications.

The Minister of State also mentioned that some of the money would go towards conflict prevention and protection, which will be focused on building on our experience at home. Will he expand on that? What does he hope to do?