Ms Jane-Ann McKenna:

In regard to Sudan, Dóchas appeared before this committee last September to talk about Sudan in detail. There are 24.6 million people in Sudan today who are facing acute levels of food insecurity. The situation is catastrophic, to say the least. One of the effects we have seen from the aid cuts is the decimation of many of the mutual aid groups that were, in effect, running a lot of the communal kitchens, which was very much a community-based way of being able to support getting food to those who need it most.

That is just one of the ways it is becoming increasingly challenging. It has always been challenging, particularly with the reduction of the aid cuts, to facilitate and get some of that food aid in to where it is needed. I will ask Mr. Clarken to speak to EU funding in terms of the direction of travel with the MFF. There is not a huge focus at all on fragile or conflict affected states at the moment in the negotiations. That they are not really represented at all, particularly in the development space. This direction of travel is very much about investment, the return on investment, the global gateway and seeing where it is to the advantage of Europe to invest in countries rather than in global security.