Mr. Paul O'Brien:

The Deputy's question is very interesting. Her description of making what is very abnormal and very negative coping mechanisms normal is a really interesting way of looking at it. Let us be clear. Food is only one part of an overall package. You need medicines to go with it. Even at the very severe end of treating malnutrition, you are treating with a cocktail of drugs, particularly in the case of severely malnourished children, so it is not just about food and making sure it is the appropriate food. The overall mantra from a humanitarian would be that it is the humanitarian imperative, which is fundamentally about saving lives and easing suffering. If you get into chats with some of us, that is really what we would look at. It is about saving lives and easing suffering. That is mostly about food, having the right food that is locally available and making sure people can access that in sufficient quantities. The real challenge with the Ukraine crisis is the availability of wheat and sunflower oil, which were being used to feed significant proportions of populations, particularly around east Africa but also in areas like Lebanon and Egypt. The other side of it is the funding that is being diverted into defence budgets, particularly by the countries in eastern Europe and even central Europe. We have seen what Germany is doing in terms of its defence budget and what Finland is having to do with its defence budget. I have heard some talk here, and I know this committee is concerned with defence as well, about the need to look at defence, although I know it is not as related to the issue of Ukraine compared with some of those other countries. We are seeing the diversion of aid to defence as well aid to Ukrainian refugees in the countries to which they are coming to live.