Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will endeavour to try to cover all of the questions and if I forget anything, please come back to me.

I will comment on Moldova since the Chairman has talked about it. I have been in Moldova and have seen at first hand the reality prior to what happened in Ukraine and to this situation. The Chairman is quite right that Moldova faced enormous difficulties and problems in its own right. The situation that it now finds itself in, on top of that, is an incredible one. We can see that for any western EU country dealing with influxes and numbers on that scale, it is very difficult. I know there will be a meeting between officials and the Moldovan Ambassador tomorrow, so there will be a direct engagement on that. The issue has come up for discussion at the recent meeting of the EU development ministers. It is an area that requires engagement with Moldova. Both internationally and in terms of the meeting with the ambassador, there is engagement and awareness.

If it is agreeable, I will write to the Chairman with an update on the American Irish Historical Society rather than go through it today. I heard the Chairman's earlier remarks to the Minister, so I am very much aware of the comments.

I will comment on the main area of education because it is a central part of what we do in terms of Irish Aid. Deputy Stanton is quite right in so much of what he said and I would point out that it is further than that. The impact of Covid-19 on education, particularly in the area of gender equality within education, and particularly for young girls, has been absolutely devastating. It is a fair comment that programmes have probably been set back by more than ten years. We will have to look at how we engage and work to combat that because we have a very strong and very proud record of engagement on that. We have delivered a huge amount of really innovative and far reaching transformative programmes. The Deputy quite rightly alluded to the fact that when one has the opportunity to travel in countries, and not just in the EU, it is fascinating to sometimes sit down beside people who will say that because of the support that Irish Aid gave, through local education, they were able to end up studying in an Irish university and that they have gone back to work in education within their home countries. Sometimes one will even hear people from an older generation talk about the huge impact that the missionaries had, and which many Irish nuns and brothers had, in educating them right the way through. One of the things our programme focuses on, and we believe this is at the heart of it, is that necessity to have a whole-of-society approach to education, so the value of education is instilled in the community and there is buy-in. Because the number of years in education is quite short, particularly for young girls in developing countries, the impact of school closures of up to two years and the impact of non-attendance as a result of Covid have been devastating and children have not returned. In addition, there has been an horrendous corresponding increase in sexual violence in a whole host of areas as a result of the collapse of organised education. Indeed, when I was in Uganda, I saw children not able to attend their formal school but they were literally willing to travel many kilometres to attend an informal school run by volunteer teachers in the bush sitting underneath trees because they wanted to learn. We must make sure we work with our partner organisations in countries to revitalise that education and make sure we rebuild the programmes that have been so badly affected.

In response to Deputy Berry, the European funding is not within this budget and it does not come under my remit.

In terms of rebuilding, unfortunately and tragically, we are a bit off that at this moment in time. We will have to see how that evolves through our co-operation with the EU. If we are looking at a process of reconstruction, and hopefully we will reach that point as quickly as we can, then we would probably have to look at the overall finances. Within the budget, we have already committed €20 million to Ukraine on the humanitarian side alone, literally in the last number of weeks.

It is important to note that we are also very conscious and recognise that there are a range of other issues that Irish Aid works tirelessly on which still exist. There are issues in Syria, which is a huge programme for us, where we have done one of our biggest ever humanitarian support programmes. There are issues in Ethiopia in terms of humanitarian support in another horrendous conflict situation. A range of countries are affected in various ways and we are still going to support and fund them right the way through this. We now have Ukraine, which is probably the most horrendous war on our doorstep that any of us in our lifetimes has seen. Thankfully, it has shown one of the really positive responses of the Irish people in the way in which they have responded generously with their money, time and willingness to help. Irish people have shown an absolute determination to engage on every level in terms of trying to help. Within the Irish Aid context, we are certainly there and we will continue to be there. When we get to that phase of rebuilding, that will be a subject which will have to be gone into in some detail and in co-operation with our EU partners.

There were a number of questions and I apologise if I miss anything. Deputy Brady had a question about demolition. The demolition is totally unacceptable. It is contrary to what should take place. The claim is for about €950,000 and there has not been any progress on that. We wrote to them again on 9 February and that was the most recent contact. That €950,000 is the totality of the claim that the consortium has made and obviously is part of Ireland's involvement. I totally agree with the Deputy that it is upsetting and disheartening to see projects, which have been funded through any process of development aid and which are going to help people who are vulnerable and in need, being part of a confiscation or demolition process. We fully oppose that and we have directly engaged with the Israeli authorities and made our views quite clear on that.

The Deputy and others, including the Chairman, raised with me the issue of Ukraine, international rights and examining the violation of human rights. We are working with the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations and we are supporting their work in examining what is happening on the ground. We have all seen the coverage of events that has shown some really horrendous situations involving civilians, including at hospitals with children and with nurses and doctors working in that environment. I imagine a process will take place involving feedback from those agencies which are on the ground. We will continue to support and work with them in terms of what is happening. That also applies to the International Criminal Court, to which the Minister referred. There is also a commission to be established by the UN Human Rights Council, all of which we will support. It is very clear, and Ireland and all of our fellow EU members are very clear, that what is happening and the way in which this war is being progressed are totally unacceptable. We will see that information coming back in to us.

Deputy Brady also asked about refugees, in particular in terms of additional financing.