John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome everyone this afternoon. Our guests are in far flung places across the world. One of the major benefits, if anything has come from the Covid world, is how the ability to meet online has made the world a bit smaller. Another challenge that Covid threw up was in education. In Ireland when the schools had to close, I, as a parent, saw the challenges, particularly as my wife tried to educate our children who were home from school and who were depending on the Internet. I can only imagine the challenges in many of the places we are discussing where online education simply did not exist as an option.

I am truly shocked at the figures. I thank the witnesses for presenting them. It is only when we see the harsh realities, we see how seriously and negatively impacted communities have been across the globe. I am looking at the figures for Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda where 34% have lost a parent. That is absolutely heartbreaking. In Uganda and Kenya 20% of girls have not returned to school. That is frightening. Some of the reasons for this were outlined. We see that in areas of conflict. This committee has heard before how getting women's input into any peace process is invaluable. Women can be kingpins in many of these communities and are the first to fall out of those processes to go back to hold the family together and keep food on the table and provide for the family. It is having a really negative impact.

Vaccine equity was touched on. We were one of the first committees to hold hearings on vaccine inequity and we made specific asks. Unfortunately, we remain in a situation where we do not have vaccine equity. What is the real impact of this? We talk about the 20% of the girls who have failed to return to school for various reasons. How much of that is due to their not being vaccinated and the fear of spreading Covid?

I agree with the three primary requests outlined by Ms McKenna. This committee should seriously look at these. I would support them fully as a very basic and essential tool to make inroads into the areas needed.

Irish Aid is a key tool for exerting our influence and for us to make an input to address a very serious challenge. How much of the funds are going to these areas, including education?

It is probably different across the countries but is there a rough figure for how many children, a percentage of the population, were in the education system prior to Covid and how do the figures compare now? What is a reduction of 20% in real terms mean?

I commend all the organisations here and particularly those who have been on the ground during very challenging times who have kept the show on the road. I commend the teams of people and the volunteers who undertake the invaluable work. On my own behalf, I thank everyone from the bottom of my heart.