Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My colleague, Senator Ardagh, mentioned the matter of funding, as indeed did Senator Joe O'Reilly. I might narrow that focus by asking has the global Covid-19 pandemic in any way adversely affected donor funding for MSF. What is MSF's relationship with any states on the matter of funding?

While I have the floor, I ask our guests to focus on two areas. The first is the Tigray region of Africa and the dire humanitarian situation which exists there. I note there have been calls for formal political engagement aimed at the cessation of violence which, if attained, would allow for humanitarian aid to be delivered. Access to humanitarian aid in that region seems to me to be of particular importance, having regard to current weather patterns, the dangerous and conflicted situation, the failure of crops, the movement of people, starvation, hunger and famine. Have our guests seen any improvement in the situation in Tigray in recent weeks as far as the capacity to deliver aid is concerned?

I will turn to the situation on the borders of Belarus and the European Union, with particular reference to Poland and Lithuania. In her initial contribution, Ms Simpson was direct, as we would expect, when she said that the European Union has failed to protect life. I acknowledge, of course, that her organisation comprises medical expertise and that in the course of her advocacy and work, she is always mindful of the need to be politically impartial, independent of politics and neutral in her comments. We on the other side of this meeting are political practitioners. Ireland is an active member of the European Union. We pride ourselves on our membership of the European Union, which is strongly supported by the Irish people. Ms Ossig, when considering the EU border situation, spoke of initiatives and the position taken by the European Commission which she described as setting a dangerous precedent in terms of forthcoming policy positions. Would it be in order for me to ask what might this committee do, having regard to the fact that we are active members of the European Union? We see on a daily basis, particularly in recent times, a dangerous build-up of military capacity in this region. We have not in recent times, but in the course of the mid-winter and December we saw on our screens the forest conditions, particularly on the Belarus side of the border. Ms Ossig gave evidence to the effect that people are freezing in the forest in a way that would seem contrary to any focus on a humanitarian situation or human rights. Would our guests be in a position to offer us their best advice as to what we might do, as a foreign affairs and defence committee, in the context of Ireland's membership of the European Union?