Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses. That is very useful and very important. I want to stick with the example of Pakistan and use it as a way of teasing out a couple of arguments. First, we know that 33 million people were directly affected by the flooding there, in a country that is responsible for 0.04% of emissions. I have figures here, I think from Oxfam, that show that a UN humanitarian appeal for the floods was set at $472 million. That is just over 1% of what is needed. The costs of the flooding were around $30 billion. We have a huge hole to fill and that is just one country. That is leaving aside the tragedy of the Horn of Africa, which Ms Wathuti talked about earlier. One of the witnesses has said the funding needs to be stable, adequate, and predictable. I get that the loss and damage finance is a permanent structure we need to put in place, but is there also a case for calling for a cancellation of the debt of these countries and pushing Ireland to lead on that? The IMF, which is no stranger to Ireland, will loan money to Pakistan in this particular case and to other poor countries, but it will require severe austerity measures to be imposed on the basis of that loan. As we know, austerity weakens the internal services and public equality that can be distributed through education, health etc. Cancelling the debt is one call that should go out at COP, and the other is for a windfall tax on the profits of the fossil fuel industries. Mr. McEvilly has just described what is going on, and it is outrageous, particularly since the war in Ukraine. The profits have gone through the roof for all of the big fossil fuel industries. I would like the witnesses to comment on that. My final question is a little provocative but I really am concerned that COP27 is taking place in one of the most brutal dictatorships on the planet.

In the past ten years, Sisi's Government has built over a dozen extra prisons. Tens of thousands of activists, including climate and justice activists, are locked up permanently in prison. Many have to go on hunger strike to draw attention to their plight. It seems contradictory that we can go to a country that is so brutally guilty of injustice, inhumanity and climate damage and say here we are now, greenwashing a dictator who is going to advocate for justice and climate justice. It cannot be separated from the question of human rights - I think we would all agree on that. The boycott is not going to happen, but at a minimum, can we get our delegates to scream about this and draw attention to it inside the conference centre and not give Sisi a free ride while this green preening happens on the side of the Red Sea?