Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests and congratulate them on the anniversary of the organisation they represent. One of them used the term "feeding centres". As a mother of two children in Ireland, that is not a word I come across when I bring them to a children's hospital. Nutrition is something we take completely for granted in this country. It hit home when our guests narrated the story of the doctor, Mohammed, saying the feeding centres were calm. I had never heard the term before and it seems almost to be from another realm, given how difficult it is for us to comprehend. It is upsetting that the organisation's main patients are children under the age of five. As Deputy Clarke said, to think a child would suffer from malnutrition from birth is awful and very sad.

I again thank our guests for their work. If there is anything we can do as a committee to support it, they might let us know. I appreciate how important that work is, not just in Afghanistan, Belarus and the other places they mentioned but throughout the world where Médecins Sans Frontières has or has had projects. As a committee, we would all like to help them if we can. I thank them also for their presentations.