Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Specifically, to come back to the Deputy on that particular point, that is a key part of my work within Irish Aid. We fully recognise that. A key emphasis of what we do with our aid programme is tackling gender inequality. In promoting gender equality, particularly for young girls in access to education, one of the key aspects is to put in place systems that enable things such as the provision of water because it is not a simple equation between providing the schools or the education. If one does not provide the structural changes within society and the supports to society, one will not free up the time for young girls traditionally are the water carriers in so many of these countries. It is important to realise that right across our aid programme, which is viewed by most people as one of the most ethical aid programmes there is, we have "furthest behind first reach", and that particularly works in the area of gender equality in areas such as the Deputy mentioned.

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