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

I welcome our guests. I appreciate their appearing before the committee and providing it with information. Food and clean water are necessary to live. Mr. Clarken stated many of the facilities in which Oxfam has been involved have been bombed. Clean water is essential to life and I imagine Yemen is a very warm country at times. How are people managing in that regard? Are the countries which are being sold arms involved in the bombing of the water infrastructure? People at home and members of the committee hear of the scale of the conflict and the international players involved. Al-Qaeda is also involved. Are these various actors involved in attacking al-Qaeda in the region? Is that their justification for being involved in the conflict, or is it part of the Iranian-Saudi Arabian conflict in the region, with the support of the US, France and the UK? Will our guests also comment on the use of cluster bombs? One of the potential solutions Mr. Clarken outlined is that the Government should contact the Saudi ambassador. Should the Government have a word with the British, French and US Governments, as well as the other players, about their involvement, given that it is clear they are complicit because they are supplying weapons?

Mr. Clarken stated that while he hopes for a ceasefire, a political solution is needed. He noted that although goods are being imported, the problem is the stranglehold around those goods. In theory, the ceasefire is holding, but if the food and medicines cannot be given to those who need them, it shows the fallacy of what was agreed at the talks. What will be the political way forward?

Does it need to include free access to food, medicines and aid to the areas most affected? Our guests might also expand on the cholera epidemic, which is linked to the lack of clean water and poor sanitation as well.