Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland is a steadfast supporter of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). It plays a crucial role in providing essential services to 5.7 million registered Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Through its work, UNRWA continues to act as a force for stability in the region.

In recent years, UNRWA has regularly experienced budgetary shortfalls due to insufficient donor funding and increased needs caused by recurring crises. The hostilities in May 2021, the impact of COVID-19, and knock-on effects from the war in Ukraine have placed additional strain on the agency, which already operates in a highly challenging context.

For this reason, Ireland signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding with UNRWA in March 2021, pledging an annual base contribution of €6 million annually. In practice, Ireland’s total funding regularly exceed this figure. At the recent UNRWA pledging conference in New York, on 2 June, the Government announced an additional €2 million in support for UNRWA FOR 2023, bringing our total contribution this year to €8 million. With this additional payment, Ireland will have contributed a total of €63 million to the agency since 2015.

At the pledging conference, Ireland called on the international community to honour our collective responsibility to ensure UNRWA has the resources to fulfil its mandate. This means ensuring that political support for the agency translates into tangible financial support.

For our part, Ireland will continue to provide UNRWA with political, policy and financial support as part of our commitment to Palestine refugees.