Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)
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3. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade her views on the situation in Sudan; her position on same and in particular the need to ensure access to appropriate aid; and her further position on the concerning flow of weapons into the country. [66754/25]

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)
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The scenes we are seeing in the media on our phones and televisions from Sudan are horrific. They are redolent of the kinds of scenes we saw in Rwanda 30 years ago. People are being cut down in the street and being slaughtered indiscriminately and unfortunately it seems to be escalating. Tens of thousands of people in Darfur are unaccounted for. We do not know where they are or whether they have got out of El-Fasher. We will have a debate on it later, but it is vital that we keep focus on this issue. I look forward to hearing about the Government's position.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Deputies Duncan Smith and Heneghan have asked similar questions and we will have a longer debate on it this afternoon.

The conflict in Sudan has resulted in the world’s most severe humanitarian and protection crisis, with more than 150,000 deaths, over 2 million forcibly displaced and more than 21 million people facing crisis levels of hunger. Following the appalling recent attacks against civilians by the Rapid Support Forces, RSF, in El-Fasher, violence continues to escalate in north Darfur and the Kordofan regions. Large-scale, ethnically motivated atrocities, including summary executions, civilian detentions and rape and starvation as weapons of war, are unfortunately widespread.

The Government has consistently highlighted the scale of the humanitarian crisis and the urgent need to act to ensure the protection of civilians, particularly women and girls, and safe passage for those fleeing. Also critical is the need to ensure unimpeded humanitarian access in line with international humanitarian law to reach those must in need. This year, Ireland has provided €14.3 million in humanitarian assistance to support the people most in need in Sudan and those displaced in neighbouring countries. This assistance is channelled through trusted UN, Red Cross, Irish NGO and local partners to provide life-saving assistance. We are committed to further increasing our assistance in 2026.

At EU level, Ireland has taken a leading role in initiating discussions on Sudan, including on the establishment of the EU sanctions regime and, most recently, in calling for the implementation of the October Council conclusions. The November EU Foreign Affairs Council, which the Minister, Deputy McEntee, attended, adopted restrictive measures against a senior RSF commander. We are gravely concerned by reports that arms continue to reach parties to the conflict, despite existing UN and EU embargoes and sanctions. Along with our EU and other partners, we have called on all external actors directly or indirectly supplying arms and funds to the parties to cease their support immediately. Ireland, with the EU, will continue to advocate for the expansion of the arms embargo to the whole territory of Sudan.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the statement. It is perhaps more robust than the statements made previously, in the latter part. The people of Sudan have suffered for a considerable period and unfortunately the hope they had a few years ago that a democratic settlement would emerge has not materialised. This appalling conflict is now happening. It is important that all parties to the conflict, the government forces and the RSF, seek peace to the greatest extent possible. The Government just made a good statement about the flow of weapons. It has been widely commented on and is widely believed that the Government of the United Arab Emirates is one of the surrogates. The Irish Government seems to be reluctant to identify that. Has the Government raised directly with those governments that are escalating the conflict our concerns about the flow of arms?

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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On discussions, as I mentioned, the Government has raised this at EU and UN levels, where appropriate. I have also personally discussed it at a political level with senior officials and ministers from the UAE. That happened at a meeting in Dublin a number of months ago, meetings held in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and at High-Level Week of the UN General Assembly, and I will be meeting the UAE ambassador in a few hours.

We have made it clear to all parties that we do not believe there should be any breaches of the arms embargo. Any allegations of that have been consistently denied by the UAE, as the Deputy will appreciate. However, the UAE, alongside the USA, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, is a member of the Quad, a group formed with the aim of resolving the conflict and we have encouraged all parties with influence to advocate for a peaceful resolution to the conflict and an end to the suffering of civilians. However, substantive political engagement and co-ordination is also needed between the EU, the African Union, the Quad and other international and national actors on de-escalation and mediation efforts.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)
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I appreciate that it is denied. Whether those denials are credible is another question. I welcome that the Minister of State will meet the ambassador later. It is important that this issue is on the agenda. Unfortunately, it seems that the people of Sudan are to some extent pawns in a struggle for regional influence and they are paying a very high price for it. The other humanitarian element of it is the huge refugee crisis. The neighbouring countries, particularly Egypt and perhaps Chad and others, have significant numbers of refugees. I understand from what the Minister of State said that the Irish Government will continue to support investment in ensuring those refugees are supported. It is the largest movement of people in the world at the moment. Literally millions of people are looking for refuge.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Let there be no underestimation. This is the worst humanitarian crisis happening in the world at the moment and it has been for a considerable time. It is the largest displacement of people, and Ireland will not be found wanting.

As I mentioned, so far this year, we have allocated €4.3 million in humanitarian assistance. That included an additional €3 million announced by me and the Tánaiste in September at the UN and we are committed to increasing that in 2026 as needed. We also made sure our payments to UN agency partners were brought forward this year due to the liquidity crisis, to make sure refugees from this conflict and others were not victims of a liquidity crisis. I intend to visit Uganda, which is home to a lot of refugees, particularly from South Sudan, in February next year and will continue to make sure our support is known about and felt.