In a number of areas, we continue our commitment to address directly things such as the price impacts. The Department is encouraging our international partners to adjust programmes rapidly in response to the crisis. It is also important that the international response focuses on the need to prevent a further deterioration of food security. As the Deputy and I both acknowledged, it is expected that the impacts will be felt in areas such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Afghanistan. Irish embassies in those countries have work…

We continue to highlight the importance of the World Food Programme and support for it. It issued a terrifying warning, I believe, that an additional 47 million people could fall into the grip of acute hunger in 2022. That is from a pre-war baseline of 276 million people. That means that up to 323 million people could become acutely food-insecure in 2022. That is increasing for men, women, boys and girls. Many of Ireland's international humanitarian partners purchase their grain from Ukraine. The impact of price in…

A Better World, Ireland's international development policy, focuses Irish Aid's work on meeting the needs of the furthest behind first, with an emphasis on those in the world's poorest or most climate-exposed countries, especially women and girls. Delivering on the ambition of A Better World includes a focus on food security and on upholding the rights of those we support. The allocation to official development assistance for 2022 is €1 billion, the highest ever and a 20% increase of last year's allocation. Ireland…

It is important to note as a member of the Security Council we are now dealing with a situation where there are, say, 30 files in this area compared to, say, 13 when we were last on the Security Council. As I noted in my response to the Deputy, we are a very strong contributor to the United Nations, and particularly on human rights. That, I believe, is strengthened through our membership of the Security Council. The Human Rights Council has a primary role within the United Nations system to promote and protect huma…

Specifically, to come back to the Deputy on that particular point, that is a key part of my work within Irish Aid. We fully recognise that. A key emphasis of what we do with our aid programme is tackling gender inequality. In promoting gender equality, particularly for young girls in access to education, one of the key aspects is to put in place systems that enable things such as the provision of water because it is not a simple equation between providing the schools or the education. If one does not provide the st…

How can the Deputy say we are heckling?

The global games development fund is a matching funding partnership between my Department and the GAA that supports community-orientated GAA activities abroad. Established in 2012, it has been remarkably successful in the development of Gaelic games internationally and benefits hundreds of Irish communities abroad. It has grown from 14 projects in 2013 to over 100 projects this year. Funding from the Government's emigrant support programme has grown in response to that demand from €45,000 in 2013 to €200,000 this y…

We are always looking to expand and see what involvement we can have. What we are doing in the GAA provides a good template for that. Part of the programme we are looking at supporting across the diaspora is the re-energising and re-rolling out of things like the St. Patrick's Day activities and festivals. They were an integral part of the community network that was badly affected by two years in which those programmes could not be held. My Department is committed to looking at how we can develop a range of support…

The Deputy made an important point. One of the key things we tried to emphasise in the redesign of this fund, in conjunction with the GAA, was to move away from once-off sponsorship and to a programme of ongoing development, particularly in respect of trying to strengthen clubs at grassroots level and the skill level to benefit clubs. This refocusing is designed to give a much longer-term benefit to clubs on the ground, in contrast to some of the previous once-off sponsorship. We will continue to review this progra…

Given their important role in the world’s food system, together providing 12% of the world’s traded calories, global food security has been damaged by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The most immediate impact has been the significant increase in the prices of wheat, sunflower oil and fertiliser, which is already affecting food prices in import-dependent poorer countries. With fertiliser prices increasing, food production prices will also increase, reducing farm incomes, just as climate stress and pre-existing conf…

The Deputy is quite right in his analysis. We are working with the World Food Programme. As a small country, our best involvement is through large international organisations. Under our commitment with the World Food Programme we have put in €75 million from 2022 to 2024, increasing support to it. The Deputy is right to highlight that in a number of countries where the World Food Programme is the primary source of food supply there are going to be issues later in the year. We are conscious of that. We are working o…

I agree with the Deputy's emphasis on the longer term approach, particularly in respect of climate financing and adaptation. We are absolutely certain that a set of programmes is needed that enable food production to take place in a more localised way and make it as independent of inputs like fertilisers as possible. Stability of food production in key areas is needed. That is part of Irish Aid's ongoing commitment programme which we are continuing to strengthen. The immediate impact of what has happened in Ukraine…

The agenda for this week's meeting of the European Council is being discussed by EU affairs ministers at the General Affairs Council meeting today at which the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, is representing Ireland. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, has outlined his expectations for the discussions around Russia's aggression against Ukraine, security, defence and Covid-19. I will address the issues of energy, economic issues, and Euro Summit and EU external relations. At the …

I will take this Commencement matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. I thank Senator Hoey for the opportunity to discuss this matter. The Arts Council is the statutory body charged with supporting developing arts in Ireland. When it comes to funding the arts in any democratic state, the arms length principle is a fundamental tenet in Government funding of arts. The arms length principle recognises that it would not be appropriate for Ministers and poli…

I thank Senator Hoey for her remarks and reiterate the council does provide detailed feedback on unsuccessful applications and that there is an appeals process. Obviously, there is a channel available to try to get information. I thank the Senator for raising the issue and I will convey her concerns to the Minister.

I am responding to this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Finance with responsibility for the OPW, Deputy O'Donovan. I thank Senator Ward for raising the issue, which is rather ironic, allowing for the fact that I also grew up at the opposite end of Rochestown Avenue. I must make that declaration of interest. I well know the two buildings to which the Senator refers. He makes some very valid points in his contribution about them and their role within the community. The OPW…

I thank the Senator. I hear the points he makes and I fully understand that question of frustration for people living in an area wondering what is happening. As I indicated in my reply, it is the process that when it comes to the former Garda station in Dalkey, the OPW will now prepare the property for sale by public auction for disposal of it in the third quarter of 2022. As I already indicated, Kill of the Grange and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has identified it as a property it can use and that complet…

I am very pleased to have been in the Chamber today to listen to and reflect on the concerns regarding gender inequality that have been expressed. While we have made significant advances in recent years, as the Taoiseach noted, we still have much work to do. The Taoiseach has outlined a number of initiatives the Government is undertaking to promote gender equality, particularly in the workplace. However, gender inequality can arise in many aspects of society and it is important we can identify where those inequalit…

On behalf of the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As she will be aware, under section 26 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, as amended, the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of Garda business, which encompasses all operational policing matters, including the allocation of resources. The Minister for Justice has no statutory role in regard to these operational policing matters. I am aware that the Government is committed to supporting…

I thank the Deputy again for raising the issue. I will convey her comments to the Minister. It is important to restate the key point I made, that is, that local and senior Garda management are consulted during the allocation of personnel. They are responsible for the specific deployment or assignment of duties undertaken at divisional level. With regard to Text Alert, I have heard what the Deputy has said. The budget for 2022 provided for the establishment of the new community safety innovation fund, but I will con…