Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the committee and congratulate him on his portfolio. It is something he has been interested in since long before he was a Seanad Member and I know he will do very good work. I also acknowledge his staff. As I said in my opening contribution, I had the privilege of working in the Department of Foreign Affairs for a period and I witnessed the dedication and commitment all staff in Ireland and abroad hold when they are in roles within that Department. I thank them for that.

Much of the discussion has been on aid, particularly to Gaza. We had a report several days ago of aid to Ukraine that was stored being bombed by Russia. This is probably the most high-profile case but it is not the first. There have been many times where Irish aid has gone into Ukraine and has not reached its destination because of missiles from Russia. Does the Minister of State have a comment on that and on what he in his role can do to try to protect the aid to Ukraine? The impact the cuts in global aid will have was mentioned a few times. We probably have not seen the full impact of it but has any research done by the Department or European Union into what the expected impacts of those cuts may be? What countries will be impacted by them and how can we to rectify this?