Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 49 and 62 together.

I assure the Deputies that I have taken careful note of recent reports of the use of cluster munitions, including their use in Yemen. These well-documented reports of the use of cluster munitions by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen are a cause of deep concern. Ireland's concern has been expressed by my officials at the sixth meeting of states parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions held in Geneva in September 2016 and at the debate on conventional weapons at the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly in October.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Dublin in 2008. Ireland has been a major supporter of the movement to ban cluster munitions from the very outset of this initiative. The convention entered into force on 1 August 2010 and as of January 2017, a total of 119 states have joined the convention.

The Government of the UK has confirmed that cluster munitions used by the Government of Saudi Arabia were exported by the UK in the 1980s, before the convention entered into force. The UK is a signatory to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

In November of last year, I led an Enterprise Ireland trade mission to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during which time I raised the conflict in Yemen at a number of meetings. I expressed my concern about the appalling humanitarian situation resulting from the conflict and about attacks which have directly impacted on civilians in Yemen. I have unreservedly condemned all deliberate targeting of civilians and have urged all parties to this conflict to respect international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

Together with the Minister of State for the diaspora and international development, Deputy Joe McHugh, I recently announced that Ireland will provide a further €2 million in humanitarian funding to meet urgent needs in Yemen resulting from the civil war that has intensified since March 2015. The donation of €2 million brings our total humanitarian funding for those affected by the conflict to more than €4 million since the beginning of 2016. This will be issued through the UN, trusted NGOs on the ground and the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC.

I met the president of the ICRC, Peter Maurer, in Dublin in November, during which time he told me his organisation is grateful for the continued and solid support of the Irish people. We share many of the ICRC's policy approaches with regard to matters of disarmament. It is critically important that the International Committee of the Red Cross remain an important humanitarian partner for Ireland, operating as it does in some of the most difficult and challenging environments across the world, including Yemen.

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