Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There is a deafening silence from the Government regarding the rogue Saudi state's murderous activities in Yemen that have brought 13 million to 14 million people to the brink of starvation, amid warnings of the worst famine in 100 years, in a war in which tens of thousands have already been killed and millions of others displaced. Virtually the entire population of Yemen is now dependent on humanitarian assistance. Saudi Arabia, with backing from the United States, the UK and France, is to a large extent responsible for this unfolding humanitarian catastrophe. With American-made weapons, it killed 40 children in a school bus on a school trip in August. In June, it hit a cholera treatment centre run by Doctors Without Borders when it was clearly marked as a medical facility. In April, it killed 20 members of a family at a funeral in the north west. The atrocities go on. In the past week, there was the barbaric killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist, at Saudi Arabia's embassy in Turkey.

What will we do about this? Why the silence? Are we going to speak out about the incredible hypocrisy of standing by while all of this is happening when our Government is doing beef deals with Saudi Arabia and the US, the UK and France are selling the latter arms? After the Salisbury attack, our Government moved rapidly to expel Russian diplomats. Where are the expulsions of Saudi Arabia's ambassador and diplomats?

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The control of the story of Yemen and the spin surrounding it are scary. Our own State broadcaster, RTÉ, cannot mention the Houthis without saying "Iranian-backed Houthis" despite the fact that it has no evidence of this. I have not seen anyone else produce such evidence either. The Houthis robbed most of their ammunition and guns from former President Ali Abdullah Saleh's government forces. The current trouble in Yemen began with people protesting about neoliberal adjustments introduced under Saleh. He lost control, but the US-Saudi coalition forced him out. In 2012, his vice president, Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, was installed as interim leader and continued the neoliberal agenda. It was all part of a process of plundering Yemen that has been going on for many years. However, Hadi could not gain control either, so he sat down with the opposition in Yemen and, in September 2014, signed the Peace and National Partnership Agreement with Ansar Allah, the main opposition, and the leaders of all the major political parties. Between them, they agreed to have elections. That was not what the Saudis wanted, however. It did not suit them. They started their airstrikes afterwards. Under the cover of UN Resolution 2216, Saudi Arabia and the US self-authorised their use of violence in Yemen.

The situation is horrific. We are at a stage where the Saudi-United Arab Emirates coalition, backed by the US, the UK, France and Germany, is bombing the people of Yemen into starvation. Only this week, the UN stated that up to 13 million people were at risk of starvation. Did the Minister raise this matter at the Foreign Affairs Council earlier in the week and did he raise it while appealing for Irish membership of the UN Security Council?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have been monitoring the state of affairs in Yemen with growing anxiety, particularly in recent weeks as reports of the increased threat of famine have circulated. I am deeply concerned by the level of violence in Yemen and by reports of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.

Three years of war have had devastating consequences for civilians. Yemen is now the world's largest humanitarian crisis, with more than 22 million people, or three quarters of the population, requiring some form of humanitarian assistance and approximately 2 million people internally displaced. The latest report from the UN's humanitarian co-ordinator in Yemen, Ms Lise Grande, sounds an alarm that between 12 million and 13 million Yemeni citizens will be at acute risk of famine in the coming months if the conflict continues.

Ireland has provided almost €16.5 million in bilateral humanitarian assistance to Yemen since the conflict began in 2015. Of this, €4 million was contributed in March to the UN Yemen humanitarian fund. Ireland pledges global funding to a number of organisations that are particularly active in Yemen, including the World Food Programme, UNICEF and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Ireland also contributes to EU support for Yemen. Since the beginning of the conflict in 2015, the EU has allocated more than €438 million to the crisis. It supports therapeutic feeding centres for the treatment of malnourished children, healthcare, food aid programmes and emergency assistance to displaced populations.

Humanitarian access is a critical issue so that aid can reach those who need it. There is a pattern of difficulties with this in Yemen. Commercial access is equally important, since a population of over 20 million people cannot survive on aid alone indefinitely. This has been one of my consistent messages to all parties involved in the conflict.

Officers from my Department consistently convey the Government’s strong concerns to the Saudi, United Arab Emirates and Iranian Embassies in Dublin. I met the Saudi ambassador this afternoon and stressed the emphasis that Ireland puts on this issue as well as the issue raised by the previous Deputy.

Both at UN level and in EU discussions on the issue, Ireland has sought at all times to stress that military action will not be sufficient to bring a lasting solution to the conflicts between communities in Yemen. Military victory, even if it is achievable, will not address the root causes of the conflict. The pursuit of military victory also brings an unacceptable cost for the Yemeni people on a humanitarian level. We have seen time and again the tragic results of the errors and recklessness which are endemic to conflict situations.

Negotiations must be reinvigorated, and Ireland and the EU fully support the work of Martin Griffiths, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, and his team. The Government is also vigilant for opportunities to make any progress we can in international fora, including on ensuring accountability for crimes committed during the conflict. At the Human Rights Council in September 2017, Ireland was part of a small core group of countries that drove forward the adoption by consensus of a resolution establishing a Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen. I personally worked closely with the Dutch Foreign Minister at the time, Bert Koenders, on this resolution. The group established is carrying out investigations into all alleged violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by all warring parties in Yemen. Last month, Ireland worked to ensure that the mandate of this group was extended for a year, to allow more time to complete its vital work.

I assure the Deputies that Ireland will continue to take every appropriate opportunity to urge stronger international action, and will press for a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Yemen.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There are no angels among states and governments in the Middle East but the Saudi regime is a murderous, brutal, rogue one that is the enemy of democracy. It is willing to use the most savage methods, including now bombing Yemen into a famine situation which will affect the entire population, and to do so openly and blatantly. Also, as we saw with the Khashoggi affair, a journalist who wished to speak out and call for a free press and the right of people in the Middle East to criticise regimes like this, is brutally murdered by people who have been clearly identified now as associates of Crown Prince bin Salman. What are we going to do about that? The Minister referred to talking to all parties involved, but this is a rogue regime and the United States and the United Kingdom continue to arm these people to kill people in Yemen and murder a person in an embassy in Turkey. Can the Tánaiste explain to me the reason we expelled Russian diplomats after the attack in Salisbury and we are not expelling the Saudi ambassador and Saudi diplomats after what has been done in Yemen and with Jamal Khashoggi?

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am disappointed with the Tánaiste's answer, and he did not answer my two questions either. Did he raise the plight of the people of Yemen and the threat of starvation this week at the Foreign Affairs Council or did he just talk about the journalist? I am amused that the journalist is getting such coverage and the ordinary people of Yemen are being starved to death.

It has been established by an independent body that the majority of the bombing in Yemen has hit non-military targets. They are literally bombing food supplies now in order to starve the people. Whatever about what is going on in Yemen among the different parties in terms of who should be running the country, the bombing has to stop. The Tánaiste spoke about humanitarian aid. Give us a break. The people who are giving humanitarian aid are the same people providing the bombs. Representatives of Médicines Sans Frontiéres were before the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade today. War is a self-sustaining industry. We have the Germans, the French, the British and the United States providing the bombs. The same people who are bombing hospitals are providing funding to rebuild them, thereby creating work. It is a little like Halliburton making more money in Iraq than some of the bomb makers who dropped the bombs in the first place that caused the destruction. Providing humanitarian aid is not a solution. Stopping the bombing must be the start of a solution. Ireland should be fighting this at a European level.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We are. When the Deputy raises issues such as this, and he is genuine when he raises them, he is normally well-informed. Calling for the bombing to stop is one thing; actually making it happen is another. The way Ireland can be effective in doing that is to work through EU channels to try to do it. I am not quite sure what the Deputy is asking me to do. I have raised the Yemeni issue and the Yemen war on multiple occasions. There was not a long debate on it in this week's Foreign Affairs Council so I was not able to do it but that is not an indication of the fact that I have not raised this issue and spoken about it, in particular in regard to the humanitarian impact of conflict and the need to bring that conflict to an end. That is why there is a UN Special Envoy for Yemen. The EU supports that special envoy to try to find a way forward on that. That is why I raised it only a couple of hours ago with the Saudi ambassador in my office, along with the issue of Jamal Khashoggi.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

But there were no sanctions.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

With respect, Deputy, that is because we do not have the full facts yet. As usual, the Deputy wants to be the first out to call for-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We did not hold back before we acted after the attack in Salisbury.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

-----dramatic actions. We were well-informed on Salisbury before we made decisions-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We are pretty well informed on this one.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

-----and we have been proven to be right since. In time, we will be much better informed in regard to what happened here. The Deputy should not jump to conclusions yet despite the fact that many people have been shocked by what happened in this case, and in terms of where and how it happened. We should wait to establish what happened with as much certainty as possible.

The Deputy has the privilege in opposition of being able to stand up and say whatever he wants and to make accusation and assumptions. I am the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and I need to make sure that I make decisions on the basis of facts and informed content.