Ms R?iseal N? Ch?illeachair:

To add to what Mr. Byrne and Mr. Crowley said, Concern has been in Somalia since 1992. The 2011 famine killed over 260,000 people. As Mr. Crowley outlined, it has now been two and a half years without rain. That is not just in Somalia but in the wider region, including parts of Ethiopia. It is good to have the ambassador from Kenya here today as parts of Kenya are also very badly affected. South Sudan is experiencing extreme flooding. The action needs to be that we no longer treat this as business as usual. We can see that the climate crisis is coming. It is affecting people now. It is a game changer in terms of how people can survive and how to replace people's livelihoods. It is also coming on the back of the Covid crisis, which had already rolled back 20 years of development. The emphasis needs to be on humanitarian funding, as Mr. Byrne said, but also on the longer term bilateral investments with countries that are struggling to provide levels of social protection and rebuild livelihoods for people. We need to look right into the future. This crisis in Somalia and the wider Horn of Africa is not going to be solved in six months. A large caseload of people who were displaced in 2011 in similar circumstances due to moving away from conflict-affected areas are still displaced because it was not possible for them to go back to their land. We have to look at the package and take a long-term view. It is also important to acknowledge the commitment of the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, to allocate €30 million to the Horn of Africa after his visit. It it very welcome. As a strong principle leading donor, Ireland can also influence other donors. As Mr. Byrne said, there are roll-backs across the board from countries that are reallocating humanitarian assistance for domestic costs. There is a requirement for commitments to both humanitarian assistance and longer term support for countries that are in desperate circumstances.