Mr. Jim Clarken:

I thank the Senator. I reinforce what Ms McKenna has said on the focus of organisations such as ActionAid and Oxfam and others in working with local partners who know the needs better and who have all the expertise that is required, and making sure that Irish funding finds its way into that space in an efficient way in the way that we try to do.

To answer the Senator's question on the 3 million preventable deaths, it is my understanding that this figure comes from the World Health Organization. They specifically look at those who would not be treated for preventable diseases, those who would not get vaccines, the pregnant women losing access to care, and the rising deaths from malaria, HIV and TB. As I mentioned, we were gradually getting our arms around those diseases and now with this dramatic cut in funding it is likely to get much worse in the coming years. It is shameful really, when we think about the human suffering and when we consider how much progress had been made, that this is happening at this point. We can certainly provide some research and some backup information for the Senator that might be helpful.

The reason I talk about the trade agreement as a game-changer is that the EU takes in 30% of all of Israel's exports. In any trade arrangement that is an absolute game-changer. The fact is that the EU has been dragging its heels, and not just dragging its heels it has been blatantly resisting this. Some countries in particular really need to change the way it is understood, the way it manifests, to acknowledge the crimes and horrendous things that have been happening in the past and to make sure nobody ever forgets and all those really important things. When we see what is happening today, who is being impacted, who is actually delivering, who is causing the genocide in Gaza and what is happening in Palestine, the EU has a really important role to play. We talk about the US all the time but the EU has a massively important role to play and it needs to do that.