Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for his response and for what his Department is doing and urge the Government to continue to support these regions. Last November, Deputy Mac Lochlainn and I had the privilege of visiting Ethiopia and its western borders to meet the refugees who then were pouring across the border from Sudan and South Sudan and we saw how intractable are the problems in that region. I commend the Department on its activities. Members also should commend the Ethiopian Government, which shows extraordinary generosity in taking in massive influxes of people from all its borders despite its own difficult financial position. I also commend the NGOs and note that only last week, Oxfam returned from a visit to Burkina Faso and Niger during which it was highlighting the crises there. Similarly, Trócaire plans to undertake a fact-finding or rather, a highlighting mission in August to some of these countries. The Department is doing good work and I urge it to keep it up. Moreover, the Government should challenge our European partners and those much wealthier states, which have much more to give but are reluctant to so do, to play their role as well.

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