Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Our guests are all very welcome and I thank them for coming before the committee. Those of us who get the opportunity to engage with ambassadors know that it is an extensive role and not quite the high life depicted in TV dramas. We know our guests are all very busy people and we appreciate their taking an afternoon out of their schedules to be with us.

I have a number of fairly broad questions. The ambassadors can respond to whichever question they feel is most appropriate. I want to get a sense from them on some issues. The first relates to trade. I was hoping to get a better understanding of how our guests' respective nations consider the trading priorities of Ireland and, by extension, the European Union, how those priorities affect our guests' regions and where improvements could be made to ensure the trading relationship is mutually beneficial, particularly in creating a better and more equal economic framework between our two continents.

For those states that have had relationships with Irish Aid, it would be useful to hear their understanding of how effective Irish Aid has been for regions of Africa and if there are areas in which they feel that improvements could be made. I would be particularly interested to hear our guests' views about their respective agricultural programmes and how better agricultural relationships could be built, touching on research and collaboration opportunities and the World Food Programme, as applicable. How can we better help each other to create food security across the world, which will be increasingly important?

Some of the ambassadors, particularly H.E. Mr. Mohamed Selim, mentioned the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the ongoing conflict across Palestine and Israel. Our guests have specifically referenced the Irish response. The ambassador gave us a call to action in asking that we do more than has been done to date. I ask the ambassadors for their views on the global response to what has been happening in Gaza. Do they agree or accept that the European Union's capacity to play a more constructive role in the world has been damaged by its reluctance to hold Israel, in particular, accountable for its breaches of international law?