Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are not totally wounded today; we are managing to walk around. It was great craic. I thank Senator Ruane for organising it. It was a nice thing to do yesterday.

I raise an issue I read about this morning, which was one of the most distressing articles I have read in a very long time. It was a report by RTÉ on the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan. It was shocking to read that almost a million children are at risk of dying of hunger within weeks - not in long term. Some 3.2 million children are suffering from acute food poverty. Women are not allowed to work outside of the home now and it is impacting on its economy, which has been in free fall since the West pulled out last August. With protracted drought and the displacement of millions of its population because of the crisis and conflict, many citizens, many human beings, are at risk of dying of starvation. This is an appalling indictment on our world and all of the First World countries that should be coming to the people of Afghanistan's aid, but do not seem to be doing a good enough job at it.

International aid has been cut drastically because the Taliban has regained control, which is appalling. At the end of the day, it does not matter who is running the country. Of course that is something we have to work on, but we cannot leave people in that terrible situation, which aid agencies are calling hell on earth. That is how they describe Afghanistan.

The United Nations Development Programme estimates that 97% of Afghan people will slip below the poverty line if something is not done. That is almost every person living in that country. Right now, more than half of its population, 23 million people out 40 million, are already in poverty and below the food poverty line. Some 95% of Afghans do not have enough food to sustain them on a daily basis, with parents going without food to feed their children. It is an incredibly distressing thing to read. It is an appalling indictment on all of the countries that pulled out, in particular the United States, but also the European Union which could be stepping up to the plate, but is not. That is because we are so consumed with all of our own problems and dealing with the pandemic, which of course is important and we are trying to protect our people. However, there are children on death's door and nobody seems to be doing a damned thing about it.

Despite being a small member state, Ireland is a very influential member state. We have a voice and a seat at the table on the UN Security Council, and at the top of the European Union as well. We need to hear from the Minister for Foreign Affairs as to what Ireland is doing about this. What role are we playing? What conversations are we having to address this? What steps are we taking to increase our aid to Afghanistan and to assist all of those fantastic aid organisations, without which there would be no assistance to those poor people. My heart goes out to them. I hope the global community can come together and try to address what is now a humanitarian disaster, but within weeks could become so much worse.