Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I met with aid agencies recently, who are warning that a devastating famine on a scale not seen since Somalia in 1992 when up to 300,000 people died is now imminent in the Horn of Africa. Already, hundreds of thousands of women and children have been forced from their homes and are gathering in large camps where supplies, including water, are expensive and increasingly scarce. These are climate refugee camps. The coming famine is almost entirely caused by climate change, with rains failing for the fifth season in a row and the sixth rainy season not looking much better. When is Ireland finally going to take meaningful action on climate at home and to push for other countries to do so abroad? Will the Irish Government push for a meaningful fund for finance for loss and damage for developing countries to be included in the final agreement at COP27? That will be 31 years after such a fund was first promised by rich countries during the Paris negotiations. Will Ireland join Scotland, Denmark and Wallonia in beginning to pay for loss and damage?

Research by Oxfam has shown that the profits of just six fossil fuel companies in the first six months of this year would more than cover the cost of major extreme weather and climate-related events in developing countries and still leave them with $70 billion in profits, yet they are being asked to pay nothing for loss and damage they are causing to the 40% of humanity living in the global south.

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