Results 1-20 of 2,070 for speaker:Colm Brophy

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Official Engagements (29 Nov 2022)

Colm Brophy: Ireland and South Africa have a strong relationship, built on cultural, business and people-to-people links. South Africa is home to the largest Irish community in Africa, with an estimated 35,000 Irish passport-holders, and is Ireland’s largest trading partner in Africa. South Africa is a like-minded country on many important foreign policy issues, and is a valued partner. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Horn of Africa: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (29 Nov 2022)

Colm Brophy: I thank the committee for its invitation to discuss the crisis in the Horn of Africa. This is a situation that deserves all of our attention. During my recent visit to Kenya and South Sudan, I witnessed in stark terms the devastation being wrought on vulnerable communities across the region by a set of interlocking crises: drought; climate change; global and regional conflict; and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Horn of Africa: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (29 Nov 2022)

Colm Brophy: The very straight and very simple answer is, yes, it is a failure. There is absolutely no question about it. In my speech I alluded to the fact that we have a 50% funding situation. That in itself speaks absolute volumes about where the international community is as a whole in what it is thinking is about this. There are those of us sitting in this room who are old enough to have memories...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Horn of Africa: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (29 Nov 2022)

Colm Brophy: I am sorry. I missed the beginning of that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Horn of Africa: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (29 Nov 2022)

Colm Brophy: The Deputy has covered a lot of areas there and there is some important information within his points. First, in terms of what and how we can try to put extra resources in, one of the very important aspects that came out of COP was loss and damage. It was an incredible achievement by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Ryan, as the lead European negotiator...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Horn of Africa: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (29 Nov 2022)

Colm Brophy: We are not at a point yet on the peacekeeping side where what we are really looking for are the logistics around delivering. I would hope that subject to whatever situation that might arise, we will respond. We have never been shy, as a country, in being willing to supply our amazing troops to do this type of work to help with the logistics of providing support. It is the type of thing,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Horn of Africa: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (29 Nov 2022)

Colm Brophy: The entire decision-making behind that approach is based on the ability to take money and disburse it very quickly through Irish NGOs, which are doing an incredible job and which we have supported right throughout the year with funding and by giving more money to them. When we have a figure like €30 million and a few short weeks in which to distribute it, there is no question that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Horn of Africa: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (29 Nov 2022)

Colm Brophy: The Senator raised a couple of very interesting points that I believe are very important. In addition to the direct immediate response on the humanitarian and development side is our role in working with our UN partners. One of the key things we did over our term on the UN Security Council was to look at the whole area of climate and security and to make it a real priority during our...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Horn of Africa: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (29 Nov 2022)

Colm Brophy: I absolutely agree with the Senator. I addressed the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly on this topic. As the committee has heard, any channel, forum or opportunity should be used. None of us wants to get to a point in a few months' time when we are forced to say we wish we had done a little extra. I strongly suggest that this committee contacts its fellow committees in EU member states...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Horn of Africa: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (29 Nov 2022)

Colm Brophy: That commitment absolutely still stands and I fully support it. I fully acknowledge the way in which the NGOs have worked with us. They have welcomed the increases that are there. Fundamentally, I want to achieve that target. I want us to continue to work towards achieving that target. However, for me, it will always be about a real and meaningful increase in the money that is available...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Horn of Africa: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (29 Nov 2022)

Colm Brophy: In his concluding final couple of lines, the Chairman hit the nucleus of the situation. The international community has a key role to play and it has to be in conjunction with the authorities within the region. I want to be optimistic because, on the positive side, we have a cessation in Ethiopia and we have the start of what I hope will be a peace process that will develop and get...

Seanad: Gnó an tSeanaid - Business of Seanad: Local Authorities (24 Nov 2022)

Colm Brophy: I thank the Senator for raising what I think is a very important issue. Obviously, I am replying on behalf of my colleagues, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Ministers of State, Deputies Peter Burke and Rabbitte, who all collectively launched a new joint national housing strategy for disabled people, as the Senator will be well aware, on 14 January 2022. In that strategy, they...

Seanad: Gnó an tSeanaid - Business of Seanad: Local Authorities (24 Nov 2022)

Colm Brophy: I hear Senator McGreehan clearly. The points she makes are important. The Senator is absolutely right to raise the issue of the availability of such basic things for people with a disability and they should continue to be highlighted. I will certainly take back the Senator's remarks to the Minister. It is important that local authorities, in particular, are the lead in recognising how...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Change Negotiations (22 Nov 2022)

Colm Brophy: I reiterate that we are only at the start. There is a mechanism there which we must ensure the success of. To repeat something important I said at COP, we have played an incredibly strong role. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, has played a strong role and the European Union has come to us in terms of what we can do. Implementation is key. When talking to the actors right across COP and outside...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Change Negotiations (22 Nov 2022)

Colm Brophy: At COP27 I met representatives from developing countries who outlined the existential threats to their societies as a result of climate impacts. The key priorities for Ireland in international climate negotiations are finance for adaptation to climate change and financing to respond to loss and damage associated with climate impacts. On loss and damage, Ireland was engaged in advance of...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disaster Response (22 Nov 2022)

Colm Brophy: The fight against hunger and malnutrition is a key priority of Ireland's international development programme. The numbers affected by hunger are rising globally, and the food security situation in the Horn of Africa is particularly acute, including in Somalia where experts are warning of an imminent risk, as the Deputy clearly outlined, of widespread famine. I saw for myself the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disaster Response (22 Nov 2022)

Colm Brophy: Part of our programme, both at the UN and everything on which we are focused, is to address that. I very much remember the then President's visit to Somalia. What I saw in the Horn of Africa first-hand is that there is one difference and it is something we need to be so conscious of more than anything else. In previous times, there was a failure of rains over a period of years and those...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disaster Response (22 Nov 2022)

Colm Brophy: There is, and that is why we put the supplementary amount of €30 million in place this year. That is why most of that will go into Somalia and will go into our partners who are on the ground in a position to immediately deliver on that. I thank the Deputy for acknowledging there is incredible work being done by Ms Samantha Power in USAID in terms of this. With ourselves, they are...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Disaster Response (22 Nov 2022)

Colm Brophy: I saw for myself the devastation in the Horn of Africa when I visited Kenya and South Sudan recently.  In response to the urgency of the situation, the Government has provided an additional €30 million in immediate humanitarian assistance for the region. This funding will bring Ireland’s total direct assistance to the region in 2022 to over €100 million. It builds on...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Disaster Response (22 Nov 2022)

Colm Brophy: In response to the rapidly deteriorating food security crisis in the Horn of Africa, the Government is providing an additional €30 million in immediate humanitarian assistance for the region. This funding will complement significant resources already provided to humanitarian and development partners active in the Horn, bringing Ireland’s total direct assistance to the region in...