Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator. I am more than happy to go offline but I want to combine two elements of the Senator's points in relation to the funding for women's rights and gender equality and responding to where gender-based violence, GBV, is used as a tool of war, because there is sometimes overlap. The Senator has hit the nail on the head by emphasising the importance of utilising and empowering locally-led organisations. I recently visited Sierra Leone and Liberia, two countries the Senator is familiar with. There, Irish Aid is providing funding through locally-led organisations and using specific groups to target that. There has been a reduction, not just in rates of GBV, but also an increase in the participation of women and girls locally to make sure they can access these organisations, to get further tertiary skills, education and that level of medical and psychological care that perhaps is abandoned. I can list any sort of international treaty and commitment that we are signed up to but the practical part of it is equally important.

Regarding advocating within the EU, one thing I made very clear at the development Foreign Affairs Council meeting yesterday is that Ireland is firmly insistent that the EU remains wedded to its value system when it comes to the distribution of humanitarian aid. The Senator is correct to say that mission creep and privatisation of the aid structure are not acceptable. We have UN agencies for a reason. They are independent and trusted and Ireland will be absolutely committed to making sure of that.

Regarding the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, it is so vague and so opaque that is not clear who is part of it or what its role is. It is not something that I would want Ireland to have anything to do with. It is important to have the ability to reinforce that point.

On debt forgiveness and the structure of financing for development, the Irish position is quite clear. It is a little bit out of kilter with the unanimous EU position. I think the Senator would accept that. We will go to Seville trying to be extremely constructive and showing where our bona fides are and where we can work for as inclusive a system as possible, but we might need to have further engagement on that, which I would welcome.