Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have said that I support the US decision to impose target sanctions on individuals. I raised this issue at the Foreign Affairs Council meeting when we discussed Ethiopia on Monday. The EU does not have a collective position on that yet, but is examining its options. The EU has significant influence in Ethiopia. It spends an enormous amount there, with the Ethiopian Government, and is looking at using its influence in every way it can to, first, bring about a ceasefire, a political negotiation and, perhaps most important, humanitarian access for people who need it. Famine-like conditions are now being reported in Tigray for more than 6.5 million people in northern Ethiopia who are in need of humanitarian assistance. We have provided approximately €4.5 million in humanitarian aid for refugees in Tigray and the Amhara region and for neighbouring Sudan.

Ireland will continue to advocate in this space. In fact, I was due to travel to Addis Ababa the week after next. I am not sure whether that travel will be facilitated now, but Ireland is very much in the middle of this discussion at UN and EU level.

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