Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Humanitarian aid is a must for countries that genuinely need it. Our churches have for decades given generously to countries that struggle, and most of all to children who are suffering beyond belief. I remind everyone of the humanitarian crisis evident in Yemen, a country with 24 million people. Some 80% of the population is in dire need of humanitarian assistance. More than 12 million are children living in what has been described as hell. Countries such as Ireland, which has the means to support countries such as Yemen, should be doing everything they can to prevent Yemen from becoming extinct, which looks very likely to happen. In the next few months, Yemen will run out of wheat, rice and fresh water. It has no healthcare system so people are dying constantly from starvation and illness, in addition to fighting an epidemic of cholera and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The UN declared this as the worst humanitarian crisis in the past 100 years. Ireland should at least try to support charities that are sending food to Yemen. Children there are eating cooked leaves as their meals. They need food and water filters to have a chance of living. What are we doing as a country to prevent this humanitarian crisis, the worst in the past 100 years?

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the Minister and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade were outstanding in assisting my office to help some of my constituents from Cork South-West to return home to Ireland, but now a number of these people would like to return to their lives in their adopted countries, where they have applied for residency or citizenship. Owing to their having returned to Ireland, however, they might have lost their chance to acquire residency status or citizenship. One young man in my constituency - one of many - is stuck in this predicament. He was living in Canada and came home to Ireland because of the Government's advice, but he may now lose his chance of residency. What can the Minister's office do to support such young people?

What about those who have retired here in Ireland who may not be Irish but who have settled into our communities and contributed so much? They have sufficient means to live, they have homes here and they have full medical insurance, and they now call Ireland home. These people are on a stamp 0 visa, which means they cannot apply for citizenship. Surely Ireland would welcome these people and be proud to honour them with citizenship of our beautiful country. Does the Minister believe the process can be modified and does he believe that what I propose will materialise in the foreseeable future?

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