Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the concerns that all members have raised and sympathies that have been extended to the people of Türkiye and Syria in respect of the shocking earthquake and the impact of it, the appalling loss of life and the destruction of societies and communities within a very broad geographic area. To Ireland's credit, we have been one of the stronger contributors to the UN Central Emergency Response Fund, CERF. I think we contributed around €13 million to that fund. There was an immediate allocation of €25 million from that fund within days of the event.

One of the better initiatives that we have taken over the last decade or so was the decision to contribute significantly to that fund, which is a UN fund. That means that instead of asking for pledges or commitments from countries, the money is there to be allocated straightaway to the area through UN agencies, the Red Cross or other NGOs who would primarily be in the area and would have expertise and knowledge of the locality. That is the first thing.

The second thing is that we have always consistently provided materials and goods to the hubs in Brindisi in Italy and in Dubai, so that as soon as a crisis erupts anywhere, all sorts of materials, including for camps, tents and food, are pre-positioned so that they can go directly to the scene, which has happened on this occasion. That is over and above the €10 million allocated. That strategic approach is essential.

On the allocation of the €10 million and whether the pot is spent, in reality it is not. We announced €10 million in funding for Pakistan, which has been included in this year's Estimates, but we announced it before Christmas. If events arise, the Government responds, and we go to the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and across Cabinet and highlight that a terrible event has happened and we have to reach out in solidarity with fellow humanity in situations like this. That accommodation is always there within Government. Obviously, we have put a fund aside and a certain amount of money aside in the Estimates for such eventualities and occurrences. Government can respond to further emergency situations that may arise.

In respect of Syria, as the members will be aware, we have had an ongoing issue from our time on the UN Security Council in respect of humanitarian corridors to Syria. We were the co-penholders on the Security Council on the Syrian humanitarian file alongside Norway. We successfully led negotiations on the renewal of the vital Syria humanitarian cross-border resolutions 21 and 22.

That ensured the continued operation of the UN's cross-border aid operation at Bab al-Hawa on the Türkiye-Syria border; that was just one crossing. In July, that was renewed and the Syrian leader, President Assad, has agreed to open two border crossings to allow in a greater volume of emergency aid. There is a three-month limit on the opening of the crossings, which we must work on. It is not sustainable as the humanitarian needs of the people of this part of Syria will continue well beyond May. We will work with our European Union partners to ensure humanitarian exemptions to sanctions are understood and used. In my recent phone conversation with the Turkish foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuolu, he made it clear that political considerations can play no part now in ensuring access to humanitarian aid. He specifically welcomed Ireland's allocation, at that time, to the Syrian side of the catastrophe. He was forthright and frank about the need to put aside any political issues as regards the allocation of aid and ensuring access to that aid. We will continue to work on that.

Regarding recognition of the state of Palestine, I work with like-minded countries in the European Union which have similar positions to Ireland concerning the two-state solution, supporting Palestinian rights and endeavouring to have all accords agreed adhered to, particularly United Nations resolutions regarding settlements and territory. The situation is grim right now. There has been an escalation of violence to an unacceptable level in the West Bank and in Israel. Terrible atrocities were carried out against Israeli and Palestinian civilians. Our first priority is to de-escalate. During my recent visit to Washington D.C., I spoke to State Department officials about this issue. We favour recognition and a two-state solution. The programme for Government is clear that we will honour our commitment to recognise the state of Palestine as part of a lasting settlement of the conflict - that is how it is worded in the programme for Government - or in advance of that, when we believe doing so will progress efforts to reach a two-state solution or protect the integrity of the Palestinian territory. What we mean by that is anything we deploy on this issue must be optimally deployed. All of us can make a gesture or a grand declaration. We can do it in isolation but doing so could reduce any influence we may have on the situation if we do it prematurely. It is a judgment call at some stage. We want to work with other member states, at a minimum in the European Union, to try, at least within the European Union, to get some critical mass of member states to focus on this issue. The recent presentation of the Palestinian Prime Minister and foreign minister to the Foreign Affairs Council lunch was useful and effective. We believe there should be elections in the West Bank and in Gaza, although they are saying they cannot have them because of Israel prohibiting elections in East Jerusalem. I think there is a yearning for elections within Palestine, which must be said. It is a question of when we call this. I believe in the Palestinians' right to a homeland, a Palestinian state and a two-state solution.

I acknowledge what the Deputy said. I said at the European Council that the facts on the ground are changing to such an extent that it may make the attainment of a two-state solution impossible. That represents a very serious situation long-term. It seems to me that it is in the best interests of Israel, as it is for the Palestinians, that the voices of moderation are enhanced, encouraged and promoted such that it guarantees overall security. Many of us are worried about where this will go. This year, the violence in January alone has been at a higher level and the violence in 2022 was the worst in a long time. The numbers of people who died in Palestine and in the West Bank are at a very high level. We have been strongly supportive at the UN, as the Deputy knows, in recent decisions and we have condemned Israeli announcements on the legalisation of settlement outposts, of which there were nine recently. We are continuing to keep this under review. The issue is in the space of recognition. I understand the rationale behind the occupied territories Bill and we supported the principle behind it but there are legal constraints on that as regards the EU having legal responsibility for trading arrangements. I think where the meat is politically is in the recognition issue. Meanwhile, we continue to support the Palestinian population through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA. We allocated about €8 million to UNRWA in 2022 and about €16 million overall to broader Palestine in terms of the authority, not counting the European Union contribution to UNRWA and Palestine. The situation is not good but I think we have to deploy whatever measures we want to adopt wisely and judiciously to get the best outcome, to get justice and to try to advance and save the prospects of the two-state solution, because the current situation is not good. The full Irish embassy is related to recognition. We have a very active and proactive situation in Ramallah, as I think Mr. Jonathan Conlon can attest to, having been there. I have been there and I think they do very good work.

On the wider issues Deputies raised on future openings etc., I take on board the concerns they raised regarding the commentary on Tehran. I spoke to the minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian recently about the issues raised regarding human rights issues and, crucially, dual Irish citizen Bernard Phelan. My priority is to seek his release from Iran. He is not well and has many challenges. He has been imprisoned by the Iranian Government. We have made very strong representations on that front. I have spoken to his family as well, which we will continue to do. We will maintain contact with the Iranian authorities on that front, as well as raising all of the issues raised. That issue is under constant review.

Deputy Clarke raised the issue of climate finance and priorities. The idea of climate finance and preparing countries that are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change and providing greater funding for adaptation assumed a much stronger dimension from COP26 on. We saw that in very stark terms last year in Pakistan. I met the President of Pakistan at COP27 in Egypt and the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, which has equally had terrible impacts from climate change. The first initiative we took was to support the German initiative, called the global shield. It is fair to say there is work to be done to develop projects and how best to allocate funding under climate finance. Some of the initial tranche of allocations will go to UN agencies in the first lot. We have made a commitment to get to €225 million; there is €25 million this year and I will do more next year in the 2024 Estimates because we must get to €225 million. I have told everyone in the Government that. There was an issue about capacity to draw it down, which is why the Germans took an initiative based on providing supports to countries where they take out insurance so they have some chance if a disaster happens and they have some funding to deal with that disaster, not just in adaptation but also recovery.

In terms of aid and how it is being distributed, I think I gave the outline of that in my opening comments. It is being done through agencies, the UN agencies and NGOs like GOAL.

GOAL is our agency and is based in this area. GOAL has experience of this area but has suffered terrible losses with 27 of its employees losing their lives and some of their families as well, which is quite horrific. I can get the Deputy the full range. I have mentioned the International Federation of the Red Cross, the Turkish Red Crescent, the United Nations and various NGOs. It is being done through both Irish NGOs and international agencies. I can get the full list as we draw up terms. It will be the largest ever deployment of emergency stocks. Blankets, solar lamps, tents, water cans and hygiene kits are in position in Dubai and Brindisi. They have all been sent and are being sent. I will get the list of all the various agencies to which the aid has been allocated. Deputy Barry has suggested that we should build up the capacity of search and rescue teams. We should do this but only in a professional manner. They need to have capacity and so forth. We have a rapid response corps, which comprises different disciplines and strengths. We will look to see if any of its personnel can assist in the next phase of helping the people in the area to recover and rebuild.

Deputy Clarke mentioned the priorities of the sustainability goals. Globally, we have fallen behind and it is not a good story. We had a very good story up to 2017 or 2018. The world was going in a good direction but it is now going in a bad direction. I attended COP27 in Cairo where I heard a very articulate presentation made by the World Food Programme, which cited terrible figures in respect of where we were four or five years ago, when 40 million people faced terrible hunger, and mentioned that the figure had increased so now there are more than 200 million people in the world at starvation level. What is my priority? It is food security. Recently I had a telephone conversation with Samantha Power who is very pleased with Ireland's efforts in this area. We will do a joint partnership with US aid in respect of world hunger and food.

Unlike many countries, Ireland has not pulled back. We have increased funding dramatically because of Ukraine. We have not used the war as an excuse to pull back our normal funding. We have continued to increased our ODA, which is an issue raised by Deputy Brady. Our spending on Ukraine, because of the OECD calculations, will count. So the upfront costs in 2022 and 2023 will count towards ODA, which is massive, but that is a once-off. We have not stopped growing non-Ukraine ODA.

I have always viewed the percentage as a target. I can recall the 2000 period when we dramatically increased the actual funding but the percentage climbed upwards. One year we reduced funding and the percentage went up again because it is a function of GDP or GNI. We have high GNI in this country so we grow faster than most other countries in Europe. This means we must always race to catch up and we end up allocating a lot of the money to existing UN agencies and so on. Like any funding operation, you always want to build up capacity to make sure the funding is well spent, there is value for money and the funding is not abused. In the morning, if you were to allocate 0.7%, you would struggle to make sure that the allocations would be proper and available to be drawn down. That said, we are at the lower end of the spectrum right now so we have to increase the percentage. I think we are at 0.3%.