Results 361-380 of 1,068 for speaker:Colm Brophy in 'Written Answers'

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Policy (13 Jan 2021)

Colm Brophy: The conflict in Syria has triggered the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Refugees from Syria are the biggest refugee population from a single conflict in a generation, with over 5.5 million having fled to neighbouring countries. Lebanon, with over 1.5 million Syrian refugees, hosts the largest numbers of refugees per capita in the world, 20 per cent of its population. The...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: United Nations (13 Jan 2021)

Colm Brophy: The Great Green Wall is a Pan-African initiative to restore and sustainably manage land in the Sahel-Saharan region, covering more than 20 African countries. The intervention zone dedicated to the Great Green Wall spans a length of at least 7000 km between Senegal and Djibouti and is home to some 232 million people. To reach its targets the initiative needs to rehabilitate 8.2 million...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: UN Security Council (13 Jan 2021)

Colm Brophy: Breast ironing is a form of gender based violence (GBV) and is one of many harmful practices suffered by millions of women and girls globally. Practices such as this, as highlighted by a recent UNFPA report, must be tackled to achieve gender equality. The report highlighted the importance of tackling the root causes, in particular gender-biased norms in society, and the need to invest in...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Climate Change Negotiations (13 Jan 2021)

Colm Brophy: The Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union (FAC) has yet to deliberate on measures to deter carbon offshoring. The FAC is due to discuss the issue of Climate and Energy Diplomacy on 25 January and Council Conclusions are currently under negotiation. Following adoption of the Council Conclusions on the 25 January we can then look forward to presentation by the Commission of a proposal...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Climate Change Policy (13 Jan 2021)

Colm Brophy: In 2019 the Department of Foreign Affairs disbursed €71,327,000 for climate adaptation and climate mitigation activities from the Department's budget for Official Development Assistance. This was a significant increase on the €64,754,000 finance disbursed by the Department in 2018, demonstrating a continued positive trend towards Government's commitment to double the percentage...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Overseas Development Aid (13 Jan 2021)

Colm Brophy: Development cooperation needs to be people-centred and respond to national priorities. Promoting national ownership is one of the key principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. Ireland believes that national ownership is essential to the success of development, especially in reaching the furthest behind first. Ireland also recognises that Parliaments have a critical role...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: United Nations Population Fund (17 Dec 2020)

Colm Brophy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 360 and 361 together. Ireland is the 14th largest core contributor to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the 24th largest contributor overall, in line with the priority which the Government's policy on international development, A Better World, attaches to gender. The question of additional core contributions to UNFPA is reviewed periodically, in...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Election Monitoring Missions (17 Dec 2020)

Colm Brophy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 362 and 363 together. I refer the Deputy to the response to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 292 and 293 of 15 December 2020. As well as the Information Note on the Overseas Election Observation Roster prepared for the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade (JCFATD) and the Composite Note published on the election observation pages of the Irish Aid website,...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Election Monitoring Missions (15 Dec 2020)

Colm Brophy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 292 and 293 together. The Department of Foreign Affairs enables participation by Irish citizens in overseas election observation missions organised by the EU and the OSCE through nomination of volunteers from our Election Observation Roster. The current roster (2019-2023) was mustered through an open, competitive application process in 2018. Although Ireland...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Human Rights (15 Dec 2020)

Colm Brophy: I am aware of the case raised by the Deputy. The person whose details are supplied is a child who was sentenced to ten years in prison by a Sharia Court in the State of Kano, northern Nigeria, following a conviction for blasphemy handed down on 10 August. Following the sentencing, on 16 September UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, called on the Nigerian Government and the...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Conflicts (10 Dec 2020)

Colm Brophy: I remain deeply concerned by the ongoing armed conflict between the Federal Government of Ethiopia and the regional authorities in Tigray, including reports of atrocities and targeting of ethnic groups. There are credible allegations of mass casualties and of human rights abuses, although the ongoing communications blackout has made it very difficult to verify information.  ...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Overseas Development Aid (9 Dec 2020)

Colm Brophy: The organisation in question was awarded a one-year grant of €250,000 under the 2018 Civil Society Fund for their project to improve access to early childcare and education and protection in Ethiopia. As far as my Department is aware, the organisation was not under statutory investigation at the time of the grant award. The Charities Regulatory Authority appointed investigators to...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Irish Aid (9 Dec 2020)

Colm Brophy: Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) partners of the Department of Foreign Affairs, funded through 'Irish Aid', the Government's official development cooperation programme are expected to comply with the Charities Regulatory Authority Governance Code and guidance.  They are also expected to promote best practice in the delivery of aid and in this regard must also be signatories to, and...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Human Rights (3 Dec 2020)

Colm Brophy: Ireland is strongly committed to the promotion and protection of human rights, including the right to peaceful demonstration. The #EndSARS protests in Nigeria, which took place in a number of cities including Abuja and Lagos, were in reaction to allegations of excessive use of force and other abuses committed by a unit of the Nigerian police, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) police unit....

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Human Rights (1 Dec 2020)

Colm Brophy: Ireland is strongly committed to promotion and protection of human rights, including the right to peaceful demonstration. The #EndSARS protests in Nigeria, which took place in a number of cities including Abuja and Lagos, were in reaction to allegations of excessive use of force and other abuses committed by a unit of the Nigerian police, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) police unit....

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Conflicts (26 Nov 2020)

Colm Brophy: Ireland has consistently called for a cessation of hostilities and we welcome the agreement reached by Armenia and Azerbaijan to end the military conflict in and around Nagorno Karabakh. We remain deeply concerned for the humanitarian situation in the region, where hostilities have had a devastating impact on local civilian populations. Ensuring access for humanitarian organisations must be a...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Conflicts (26 Nov 2020)

Colm Brophy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 19 and 25 together. I am deeply concerned by the recent outbreak of armed conflict between the Federal Government of Ethiopia and the regional authorities in Tigray and by reports of atrocities and targeting of ethnic groups. There are credible allegations of mass casualties, including civilian casualties, and of human rights abuses. There is a grave risk...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Emigrant Support Services (26 Nov 2020)

Colm Brophy: The Emigrant Support Programme (ESP) provides funding to non-profit organisations and projects to support our most vulnerable emigrants overseas, to strengthen Irish communities abroad and to facilitate the development of closer and more strategic links between Ireland and the global Irish. The budget allocation for the programme in 2020 is €12.595 million and is a demonstration of the...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Foreign Conflicts (26 Nov 2020)

Colm Brophy: South Sudan continues to endure an ongoing crisis, in large part the consequence of civil war. Since the outbreak of conflict in 2013, almost 400,000 people have died and more than 7.5 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance out of an estimated population of 12 million. This has been compounded by the impact of flooding and COVID-19. In 2018, President Salva Kiir signed a...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Overseas Development Aid (26 Nov 2020)

Colm Brophy: All countries have been affected by COVID-19, with low-income countries particularly impacted by the need to deal with multiple challenges simultaneously. Ireland, in responding to the global impact of the pandemic, has prioritised use of the international development programme to reduce the incidence of the virus and mitigate its secondary impacts. This is line with Ireland’s...