Ms Brid Kennedy:

I will take, first, the question on the vulnerability of women and children and if there is anything we can do to improve their position. It is a key focus of concern in all pf the work we do but especially in the regional response. The number one priority is the provision of shelter. In physically providing a shelter it is a physical place for a woman to stay. I was in Lebanon and Turkey in July. I met a women in Lebanon who was in one of the collective centres to which I referred. She told me that she had lost 23 family members in one day owing to shelling and that she had only two distant relatives with her. Her vulnerability was massive. We asked how we could help her and she said just by providing a safe space for her where she could be with others and also though the protection programme Irish Aid was funding. It allows people like her and many other women - girls and boys also - a space in which to express their issues and also what they would like to see happen in supporting them. Also, it helps to work with men and older male youth to get them to talk about these issues. Sometimes many of these issues women face are not spoken about. By getting people to speak about them and having opinions and feelings heard, something can be done about them. That is a crucial aspect.

In the education programme we focus strongly on boys and girls. Again, we bring out these protection issues within the programme and all other aspects of our work. We constantly bring up the issue of safety and try to address issues of women's rights. We refer them to the local authorities and services that address issues and problems women encounter as a result of rape or other such violations. We are doing a good deal of work in that area.

The Deputy mentioned that language could not describe what was happening. It cannot describe the suffering of many refugees and people inside Syria. The co-ordination of all the work being done in response is being managed at different levels. In Lebanon there is a co-ordination group in the northern region where the UN bodies and non-governmental organisations, NGOs, are working. There is also a national level co-ordination mechanism in Beirut. In Turkey there is a co-ordination mechanism between the OCHA and the NGOs and there is also a regional co-ordination mechanism working out of Amman in Jordan. All of these feed into one another. It is not perfect, but it is working at some level. As the Irish Government provides quite a bit of support for the United Nations, we again urge it to support the strengthening of co-ordination at these levels.