Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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8. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if she has had any recent discussions with her EU counterparts about the situation in Afghanistan; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [66240/25]

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I will avail of this opportunity to congratulate the Minister on her appointment. Foreign affairs has always been an important brief but at this time of international geopolitical flux or chaos, it is a particularly important role to play. Working with the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, I am sure the Minister will do a very fine job for us on the international stage.

My question relates to the situation in Afghanistan and whether the Minister has yet had the opportunity to, or will in the future, engage with her counterparts on the situation there.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I am very grateful to the iar-Cheann Comhairle for raising this important issue. Afghanistan was not discussed at the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council which the Minister, Deputy McEntee, attended on 20 November. However, the Minister and I believe that the current dire human rights and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan clearly warrants a political level discussion within the Foreign Affairs Council, given that the last such discussion took place in March 2023. Ireland will continue to advocate for this within the relevant Council bodies.

We will also continue to fully support the role of the EU, through its special envoy for Afghanistan, in working to address the human rights and humanitarian situation within Afghanistan, including through the UN-led Doha process. The EU special envoy has recently briefed our ambassador to the EU peace and security committee on the current situation. In line with the commitment in Securing Ireland’s Future, we will continue to play an active role in seeking to maintain EU and international attention on the appalling human rights situation in Afghanistan and, in particular, the unacceptable restrictions imposed by the Taliban on Afghan women and girls. Along with other EU partners, Ireland played a lead role in pressing for the establishment of an independent investigative mechanism on Afghanistan at the most recent session of the UN Human Rights Council. This represents a significant milestone in the pursuit of truth, justice and accountability for the people of Afghanistan.

The Department also continues to support the Afghan people through the provision of urgent humanitarian assistance, which is principally channelled through the UN, its agencies, and trusted international partner organisations. Since January 2020, Ireland has provided over €20 million in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan through the Irish Aid programme, including almost €5 million in humanitarian funding this year to respond to needs in Afghanistan and among Afghan refugees in the region, including the specific needs of women and girls.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for that response. I am sure we all remember some years ago when America withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban began to march on Kabul. When Ashraf Ghani ran away and left his people to the fate that awaited them under the Taliban, many of us hoped there might be a more moderate regime than had been feared but it is quite clear from the most recent report from Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur, that the situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate. One of the reasons for my question is that the two most recent statements from the Council of Ministers came in August 2023 and September 2024. While I know it is inordinately difficult, given the number of conflicts there are in the world at present, we cannot let the real tragedy that is happening in Afghanistan become a forgotten one. It needs to be continuously kept on the agenda.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I fundamentally agree with the Deputy. Although I do not know if the words "moderate" and "Taliban" can ever be used in the same sentence, I understand the point he is trying to make. I absolutely agree that the attention needs to be continued. That is one of the main reasons that there is a specific reference in the programme for Government to protecting women and girls in Afghanistan. We believe we have a responsibility to make sure that Ireland, as a country that has a vested interest in the future of that country, continues to state that. I will undertake to see, along with the Minister, Deputy McEntee, if we can get this on the agenda of the next Foreign Affairs Council meeting, even as a sub-item for discussion. Indeed, we can continue to look at other forums for ways that we can raise this, most particularly through our current campaign for election to the UN Human Rights Council that will sit from 2027 to 2029.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for that response. It is particularly positive. I am very proud of my own local community in Kildare where people came together to welcome two Afghani families into the local community. They have settled in very well but they continue to fear what is happening in their home country. We hear from them of the disasters that are taking place for women and girls - their exclusion from society and relegation to a form of subhuman living. We are also conscious of the situation developing between Pakistan and Afghanistan, how the Pakistani Taliban is becoming ever more active and the loss of life that is happening in the conflict between those two countries. We should also acknowledge the number of individuals, schools and agencies in the country that are trying to provide educational services remotely to women and girls in Afghanistan. We should use whatever resources we can to assist them in that.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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One of the things that was often lost in the public mindset around this discussion is that level of compassion - perhaps eclipsed understandably by the sheer scale of compassion needed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine that led to over 110,000 people coming to this country. However, before that, after the fall of Kabul and the return of the Taliban, that level of community-level, driven compassion was there. I know the cases in Kildare referenced by the Deputy. I think of my own sister and my parliamentary assistant, ironically both called Emma, who were very involved in the campaign to bring the Afghani women's hockey team here. We were able to get the entire team out of Afghanistan. Women playing sport is a crime under the Taliban. That is just a particular reference. Obviously, Ireland has a new embassy in Pakistan and we continue to use our resident ambassador to make sure we advocate for peace in that region and ensure Ireland's voice at a community level is heard on an international level too.