Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)

Go raibh maith agat. I compliment the members of the committee because all of the issues that have been raised are European issues. Let us not forget that. We may be talking about matters in Sudan, Afghanistan or Gaza but there is an EU lens to all of this. That is crucial ahead of Ireland taking up the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

In relation to Deputy Gogarty's point, we are extremely concerned about breaches of the arms embargo into Sudan. We have been very clear on this and we have raised it at all of the appropriate multilateral levels. We are signatories to the embargo and we think that fuelling this vicious conflict, which is leading to the world's worst humanitarian disaster, is a reprehensible act. We have made that point very clear.

As I mentioned, there is a specific commitment in the programme for Government to support women and girls in Afghanistan. This was deliberately included at a time when we feared, due to the return of the Taliban regime, that this matter was going to fall off the agenda. We saw the very inglorious way that American and British forces withdrew from the country. I am not going to rule out the suggestion in relation to a Starlink-type Internet access. I think it is ambitious, but we would certainly be open to supporting any measure that improves the education opportunities that have been completely robbed from women and girls in Afghanistan.

I am grateful to Deputy Butterly for highlighting the Our World Awards to 80 national schools in County Louth. They are not "small gestures"; they are really big. When schools participate in this initiative, the response we get from teachers and, crucially, from the children and the wider school community of parents, guardians and grandparents is how inclusive it is and how it brings the entire school community together. It is extremely accessible and extremely complementary to the primary school curriculum. I would love for the Deputy to join me at the Our World Awards. I have no doubt that schools from Ardee or Dunleer will be taking part. Every school that takes part - over 400 of them - is a winner but for those who make it to the finals it is very special. It is a very enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours, but I warn the Deputy that she will be expected to dance as part of the awards, which is something I am not particularly good at.

More seriously, I will focus on the Deputy's repeated point in relation to SDG 5 and the role of women's rights and how we view our foreign policy through a feminist lens. I must stress that we do. We have a very clear commitment to gender equality as part of our foreign policy. The OECD verifies that Ireland is strong on having a foreign policy that looks to increase gender equality and to increase the level of access to healthcare, education, the workplace, and so much else for women and girls around the world.

Senator Andrews asked about a humanitarian admissions programme for Gaza and Sudan. We are probably not there yet, if that makes sense. We are a little bit further along with the process for Afghanistan, to be quite frank. That does not mean I am ruling it out. We have seen a number of medical refugees come from Gaza, and we have seen elements of family reunification. I know of individual cases on whose behalf the Senator advocated directly to me. When it comes to a ceasefire, I am going to couch my language in certain terms. I am not being coy and I say this deliberately. What we were seeing before in recent weeks was absolutely barbaric and horrendous. It was a genocide in which we saw food and energy being used as weapons of war. None of us could turn on our televisions without seeing emaciated women and children. What we are seeing now is still absolutely horrendous. It is obviously not a fully functioning ceasefire when attacks are still happening. However, it gives us an element of a pathway, first and foremost, to get a level of humanitarian aid in so we can try to reverse the famine in Gaza as quickly as possible. It also gives us an element of a move towards the next stage, in due course. The hope is that this would lead to an element of sustainable peace based on a two-state solution, as declared at the UN conference hosted by France and Saudi Arabia. We are prepared to try everything to make sure, first and foremost, that we get humanitarian aid in, that we get a real ceasefire and real peace and that we make sure Israel is held to account. We will say that as well and we do say that in every forum. We need to give it every opportunity to work. As the Senator knows better than anyone else in this room, I would argue, the Irish people are intrinsically invested in peace in the Middle East and in justice for the people of Palestine. The Irish Government takes very seriously its responsibility on a global stage to advocate for this and we will continue to do so.