We have often discussed the appalling conflict in Sudan - the greatest humanitarian crisis on the planet at this moment in time. Millions of people are displaced and hundreds of thousands have been killed. It is a situation that continues to escalate, particularly now in the Kordofan and Blue Nile states. There is a need to address the humanitarian crisis and to ensure the protection of civilians and humanitarian workers. Ultimately, what is required also is pressure to ensure that the ongoing flow of weapons, whic…

I am glad the Minister of State referenced El-Obeid. The moment in which the world paid most attention to Sudan was at the end of the siege of El Fasher when RSF arrived into that city and literally struck people down in the street with machetes. It was the kind of slaughter that was redolent of what happened in Rwanda. Tens of thousands of people were killed. It is difficult to get a clear sense of the loss of life, but it was absolutely enormous. Unfortunately, the world has begun to look away again at a time whe…

The Minister of State might have seen a very troubling report in The Guardian in recent weeks regarding Nathaniel Raymond, an American human rights investigator from Yale University, who alleged that representatives of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in Britain told him there was significant private pressure from the UAE which meant that the UK would not publicly divulge information linking Ethiopia and the Emirates to support for the RSF, which was responsible for the atrocities in El Fasher, and …

The Democratic Republic of Congo has suffered incredible humanitarian situations, conflict and atrocities over the course of several decades. Millions of people have been killed in war. Unfortunately, on the back of multiple wars, civil wars and invasions, we are now seeing a deadly Ebola outbreak that is spreading quickly and that is also affecting Rwanda This is all happening against the backdrop of the conflict to which I refer. Does the Minister of State agree that there is a need for a ceasefire in order to en…

The scale of death and suffering in recent decades in the Congo has been very under-reported. Some estimates suggest that about 6 million people have died since 1998 due to conflict. Conflict in the region has rarely been in abeyance, but it spikes during certain periods. The conflict currently is between the Congolese Government and the Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group. It is primarily taking place in Kivu state in the east of the country and in surrounding regions. Ebola is a horrific and highly transmissible disea…

That brings me to my next question. In his reply to the previous question on Sudan, the Minister referred Trócaire's connection to Sudan. Is he aware of any Irish aid agencies which, either directly or through sister organisations, have a presence in Congo and whether they are affected by or involved in this in any respect? The violence that is currently happening has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and forced them to leave their homes. Obviously, that is disrupting access health care. Humanitarian worker…

Daniel Tatlow-Devally faces trial in Germany due to allegedly being on the site of a German subsidiary of an Israeli arms manufacture, Elbit Systems, and allegedly damaging property. I raised this issue with the Minister's predecessor. The conditions of the trial and detention are of huge concern, not only to Mr. Tatlow-Devally, but also his co-defendants. He is subject to 23-hour lock-ins, has been denied phone calls with his family and has limited access to lawyers. There is huge concern about the safety and fair…

At the heart of this is an increasing trend, not just in Germany, but in other countries as well, of using legislation initially intended for organised crime to prosecute climate activists and Palestine activists and, in several respects, dampen down political criticism and protests. There is a similar situation in Britain with regard to Palestine Action. When the relevant legislation was introduced 15 years ago, people raised concerns and asked whether it could be used to prosecute Greenpeace and so on. Those conc…

The Minister said all prisoners experience the same conditions. In regard to telephone calls, I outlined my understanding of the situation. If it is not the case, I accept that. My understanding is that calls are constrained in terms of times when they can happen and there have been occasions when they have been denied. I will double-check that.

We can engage in correspondence. I might be mistaken but that is my understanding of the situation. In relation to prison conditions and the situation for other prisoners, the question is for what reason those other prisoners are detained. Is it appropriate that Daniel Tatlow-Devally and his co-defendants are in a prison of this kind for damaging property? That is fundamentally the charge at hand but it has escalated because the authorities are using legislation that was intended for use against organised crime. Th…

Last night we had a debate on childcare. During the course of that I made the point that July and August can be stressful times for parents as they try to figure out a patchwork quilt of different types of care as school finishes and there are camps and things like that. The stress of that is multiplied by two, three and ten for parents of children with special educational needs. The Topical Issue I submitted is about the summer provision programme. While the summer provision scheme obviously cannot be precisely th…

Will the Minister of State take away a couple of points? While the issue I raised was resolved ultimately, that does appear to have been after the last minute, as it was after the provision had already begun on Monday. It was only today that I learned that additional resources were provided yesterday. It should not have come to that. It should not have been the case that two sets of parents were faced with a situation where children with visual impairments were potentially not going to be able to avail of the summe…

I will start with the logistical side of things. I acknowledge that this is a project which many hundreds if not thousands of people in the Department of foreign affairs and other Departments will work very hard on. I am always very aware of the professionalism of the Department of foreign affairs. I commend it on its work today and on the work it does on an ongoing basis. I have every faith that it will deliver, from an organisational point of view, a very successful Presidency. The other part of the logistical si…

Families who rely on childcare and those who work in the sector are being profoundly let down. I will speak about the families who rely on it first. For many that is €800 or €900 a month if they are relying on it full time. There are also many parents who rely on it for two or three children and for them the costs are crippling. This is true at all stages and we need to get to a place where we have wraparound childcare. This is quite a stressful time for parents because schools have finished. Parents up and down th…

The first proceedings were lodged in 1998.

Parents in Cork could be spending €800 to €900 a month for childcare. That is if there is only one child they need childcare for. It could be well over €1,000, or €1,500 if they have two children. It is absolutely breaking families, and that is if they can find childcare facilities at all. In large parts of my constituency, in places like Douglas and Carrigaline, it is effectively impossible to find a place. The Tánaiste went to the people in the last election and talked about €200 a month. The new maximum fee cap …

I want to pick up on a point made by Deputy Ward. He is right that an awful lot of these decisions come down to economics, and that is not the way it should be. There are clearly medicines that not only can make a profound impact on people's quality of life but can actually save lives. Of course, there has to be a system and decisions have to be made in an appropriate way, but that cuts very little mustard with someone like Craig Coady, who has lost a child through Friedreich's ataxia, and is now worried about his …

Tacaím leis an mBille agus tréaslaím leis an Teachta Cullinane as é seo a thabhairt chun cinn. Is Bille tábhachtach é agus tá sé riachtanach. Tá sé ciallmhar. This is an important legislative change. At the end of the day, and as far as I can see it, we are talking about a three-day wait for women to be able to access essential healthcare. Fundamentally, that is what this is about. It was never necessary in the context of the repeal of the eighth amendment and it is one of the strongest recommendations of the O'She…

There may have been other questions earlier on this topic. I am looking forward to hearing the Minister's answer. It is difficult to comprehend how during a genocide, licences were approved, in particular for 2024, for dual-use goods for which the end user was the IDF and the department of defence in Israel. The value was €20 million. It is quite extraordinary. It is difficult to understand how such applications could have been approved in the context of such appalling crimes against humanity. They should not have …

The Minister said there is no change in policy. I find that hard to gather when for five years in a row licences were approved for significant sums of money and in the past two years, they have not been. I welcome that. The Minister said there has not been a policy change. I would say there has been and I welcome it. It is the right thing to do. However, drilling into what the Minister said, the policy of the EU broadly speaking - appropriately - is that goods primarily used for civilian uses that could potentially…