Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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1244.To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has engaged with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations regarding its work to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and opportunities to levy assistance; and if he will make a statement on the matter.[34526/24]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department leads Ireland's engagement with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

The mandate of FAO is to achieve food security for all and ensure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. In 2023, €4.4m in funding was provided by my Department to FAO, including a core assessed contribution and funding for a range of agriculture development projects.

The mandate of the UN World Food Programme is to provide life-saving relief in emergencies and use food assistance to build peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change. For 2024, my Department contributed €25m in funding to the WFP. On an international development and humanitarian relief mission to the Horn of Africa in March 2024, I committed to increase this contribution amount by 40% to €35m per annum or a total of €105m over the term of a new Strategic Partnership Agreement between Ireland and WFP for 2025 to 2027.

The absence of a lasting ceasefire in Gaza means that most of the international aid received from UN agencies is emergency and related humanitarian relief delivered through WFP, UNWRA, UNICEF and other UN humanitarian aid agencies. My Department will liaise with UN FAO on the potential consideration of support from Ireland on agriculture development projects whenever a cessation of hostilities in Gaza allows for FAO technical experts to resume their activities.