Mr. David Regan:

I thank the committee for meeting to address the question of Sudan. In the midst of all the crises around the world, scant attention is being paid to the 18 months of conflict in Sudan, despite the enormity of the suffering and the devastation wrought. Sudanese people live in constant fear of bombardment, are suffering horrific sexual violence and are experiencing famine and hunger, as the committee has heard. Concern has worked in Sudan since 1985. Throughout that time, Irish people and Irish Aid have funded our work, and millions of people have been supported at times of extreme need in their lives.

The current humanitarian crisis is worse than anything we have seen in that time. Severe hunger is widespread and is expected to worsen. Children are eating wild plants, leading to poisoning. Those who fall ill can access little help as an estimated 70% of an already weak healthcare clinic infrastructure has been looted or bombed. The scale of impunity with which sexual assault and rape are happening is frightening. Concern colleagues and our partners support women and girls in health clinics and refugee camps. Their stories bring tears to our eyes and should make us all angry. Last December my colleague, Dominic McSorley, briefed this committee from Sudan. Concern's message then highlighted the resilience of the Sudanese people, which is remarkable but not inexhaustible. Almost a year later the networks of local people delivering aid to their communities, that he referenced, still exist and operate despite the escalating crisis. Concern continues to support these local groups. In the past 18 months our focus has shifted from development and strengthening community resilience to emergency response. We now focus on helping people to survive, providing essential emergency kits and distributing cash transfers so people can buy goods they need for their families when markets are open. We rehabilitate health facilities supported by Irish aid and continue working with staff of the ministry of health, through whom emergency nutrition support is provided to malnourished women and children. Concern mobile health clinics across the country are providing primary health services in remote communities.

Behind the statistics are real families and I would like to highlight one of those today. Before this crisis the family was living in South Darfur. Amani worked as a housekeeper while her five children attended a local school. Her husband was a retired soldier. When the conflict reached her town, Amani and her family were subjected to shocking abuses from soldiers. The family was forced to flee to the Wedweil refugee camp in South Sudan. With her husband unable to find work and with the support of Concern, Amani started a small restaurant selling meat, beans, lentils and porridge. She now uses the small profits to support not only her five children, but some family back home in Sudan and some of the community in the Wedweil refugee settlement. In her words, "We are really suffering, our problems are many, we want to solve them, but we cannot solve these problems alone."

Ireland, as Ms McKenna said, has a deserved reputation for addressing global hunger and Ireland's voice is heard at the highest level. We must follow through with concerted action. Concern and other Irish NGOs have the capacity to do more. Last week's budget allocation for ODA was an increase in percentage terms, but the increase was little more than half the country's overall planned increase in expenditure. Ireland is now a wealthy country at a time when the world is facing rapidly increasing levels of humanitarian need. Concern's response, like all humanitarian organisations, is restricted in Sudan due to limited access across conflict lines. Ireland must continue to demand the safe, humanitarian access Ms McKenna spoke about, which is essential to reach people and get aid to them. Through the EU, Ireland must use its diplomatic weight to work for a cessation of hostilities. Ireland must finally continue to stand up for international humanitarian law. There must be accountability for the disregard in the world today for international law, a disregard suddenly so common it is becoming normalised.