Ms Caoimhe de Barra:

As Ms Keatinge mentioned, humanitarian need was unprecedented prior to Covid-19 but it has been severely compounded by the pandemic. We are witnessing the triple threat of coronavirus, climate change and conflict. These are in danger of creating a long-term humanitarian catastrophe from which the world may not recover but that is not inevitable. It is the people in the most vulnerable situations and most fragile countries who are suffering the worst health and socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic. We, in organisations such as Trócaire, Concern and others, together with our local partners have seen this unfolding directly through out work and have witnessed the devastating human impact of it. At a broad scale, in the two decades to 2020, huge progress had been achieved in reducing poverty. The number of people living in poverty globally fell by 1 billion over those two decades. However, the World Bank estimates that as a result of Covid-19, an additional 120 million people will be pushed into extreme poverty. In addition, over the course of the next ten years, as a result of climate change a further 130 million people are also at risk of extreme poverty. My point is there is a compound impact of Covid, climate change and conflict. It was great to hear the Cathaoirleach say he believed Covid and the Covid crisis are reasons to increase aid, not decrease it, and we fully agree and endorse that.

However, Covid is not the only crisis affecting people; it is compounding multiple crises. For example, Ethiopia is experiencing its worst hunger crisis in 20 years. Across the entirety of east Africa 30 million people are also facing extreme levels of food insecurity as a result of climate, drought, flooding, locust infestation and conflict. In Syria, a country that has suffered ten years of conflict, we are seeing the highest ever need for humanitarian assistance. Its humanitarian needs have increased by 20% over the last 12 months alone. Covid-19 continues to spread at an alarming rate in that context while the healthcare infrastructure, decimated by years of conflict, remains woefully inadequate to respond. However, we are having an impact through Irish Aid. Our partnership, as Trócaire alone, delivers life-saving and life-changing programmes in some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in the world. For example - and this is just one agency with Irish Aid funding - we managed to reach 426,000 individuals in the past year with support to mitigate the direct and secondary impacts of Covid-19. The direct impacts are health impacts and the secondary impacts are almost more impactful and devastating, such as food insecurity, violence against women and violence against human rights defenders.

As Ms Keatinge said, increased overseas development assistance, ODA, is needed now more than ever. Ensuring we do not lose the major development gains due to the pandemic will be difficult but it is achievable. We believe we must step up and respond to the scale of the crisis with appropriate ambition and action. I am delighted to hand over to Ms Gloria Soma, who will be able to give us a clear perspective from a country that has been ravaged by the three issues we have mentioned here, namely Covid, climate and conflict.