Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 22 March 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence

Humanitarian Crisis in Ukraine: Discussion

Mr. Ros O'Sullivan:

I thank all of the committee members and colleagues for their contributions. With regard to Ms de Barra's points, I was about to mention also the extent to which the crisis is so dynamic, uncertain and fast moving, and that we need to be agile and flexible with the funding and how we work. I thank Ms de Barra for mentioning that.

From my perspective, the message I would like to leave with the Chairman and the other esteemed members here today is that the focus so far, in the context of Europe and the international community, has been on those who have crossed borders. We now need to double down on how we support those people inside Ukraine on the move, to ensure the dignity we have afforded to people who have left the country and have arrived in countries like Ireland can be afforded to those who remained inside Ukraine, who are on the move, and who are living in a far more uncertain environment than those who have been fortunate enough to date, to get out. That is my message. It is about helping those inside Ukraine and those people on the move. For every person who has left the country there are currently three on the move, which will be four on the move by the end of this month. That is a staggering number of people by any count.

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