Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests and join colleagues in congratulating them on their organisation's anniversary. I stand in awe, as I am sure all my colleagues do, of the great work they do. It is extraordinary and quite wonderful, and anybody remotely civilised would want to support them in every way.

Forgive my ignorance; I should know this but I do not. Does MSF get any state funding from the various member states, and if so, is it adequate? Is it funded from Ireland? If not, is it a deliberate exercise on the organisation's part to keep away from state funding? If there is any way we could assist in that regard as a committee, we will try.

I have been watching, as I am sure virtually all colleagues have, television programmes and bits of news pieces on Afghanistan, where it seems society is breaking down in many ways and there is significant malnutrition, suffering and disintegration. I acknowledge MSF is not a political organisation but rather is voluntary and exists to deal with the symptoms rather than the politics. Nevertheless, in our guests' practical experience, do they believe the sanctions on the country should cease? What do they think of the idea of linking sanctions to the achieving of human rights there? I saw a report recently - I cannot recall where - that suggested the Taliban was going back to form and reversing in respect of its attitude to women, and there were a few bad episodes in that regard. I am interested to hear our guests' comments on that. Do they see any evolution from the earlier Taliban? It presented an attempt at good PR in the beginning, but I wonder what the reality is. Either way, it is a society that has broken down and I salute MSF's work there.

On Belarus, it seems the poor migrants on the borders are being treated as footballs or chess pieces in the game of geopolitics.

It is just shocking. The witnesses might forgive me as I had an interruption while Belarus was being spoken about. Are many of the migrants making it to Poland and being treated properly there or are they just being put backwards and forwards in a wrong kind of way? Maybe MSF will elaborate a little on that.

My final question relates to Covid and all the migrants and other people MSF deals with. I assume Covid is a major issue and that there are questions as regards vaccination. I would be interested in the witnesses' comments on that. I am sure they would be of the view we need to vaccinate everybody in order for everybody to be safe but I include all criteria. MSF might comment on that. If I had no questions I would, together with colleagues, salute what the organisation does and say we stand in awe of it.