Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

To their credit, the Irish NGOs are working directly with people and seek to empower people on the very dynamics about which the Deputy has spoken. While I acknowledge the Deputy is not necessarily making this point, Ireland does not take a patronising or patriarchal view in this regard. We help people to empower people to build up capacity in order that they can do it themselves. However, the immediacy of the Ebola crisis has caused the Government to shift the focus towards directing funding towards that crisis per seby directing funding to things like call centres, community mobilisation and psychosocial issues. However, once the Ebola crisis is over, the work to which the Deputy refers will continue apace and the Government's commitment to that region of west Africa is as strong as it ever has been.

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