2026-07-02

15. Deputy Aisling Dempsey asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade for an update on Irish aid to Nepal; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50097/26]

56. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if more Irish aid will be provided to Nepal, especially to areas impacted by leprosy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50087/26]

I have just returned from a visit to Nepal. It was my second visit to that absolutely wonderful country. However, it is a country afflicted by dire poverty, where 20% of the population live below the poverty line. We have seen in March of this year the election of a new Government that promises to bring radical change to a country where there has been an unsettled political situation for quite some time. It strikes me that Nepal is one country where leprosy still exists as an indication of real and dire poverty. What can we do to help?

I am very grateful to Deputy Ó Fearghaíl for raising an issue and a country that, perhaps, never receives the sort of attention it deserves. The Government's international development programme, Irish Aid, works globally to support the furthest behind first, focusing the major part of our official development assistance on the world's least developed countries. Nepal is classified as a least developed country. We have a number of multi-annual commitments in place for assistance in Nepal, and funding levels are expected to stay largely stable for the duration of these commitments. Through the main funding mechanism for Irish-based international development organisations, Ireland's civil society partnership for a better world, we are providing €270,000 annually for Action Aid Ireland’s work in Nepal. This work addresses the structural causes of gender-based violence, promotes women’s empowerment and leadership and helps address the impact of climate change. Through the civil society fund, we are providing €300,000 to support the work of smaller Irish organisations active in Nepal. These include the Irish Red Cross, the Nepal Leprosy Trust and the Social and Health Education Project. I have met two of those in very recent months when we brought the organisations specifically working on leprosy together at the Irish Aid offices in Limerick. Their projects focus on promoting social inclusion as well as improving health and well-being for the most vulnerable, including people affected by leprosy. Capacity-strengthening supports are also provided. Through our partnership with Misean Cara, which supports missionaries working to empower those left furthest behind, Ireland also provides support to education. In 2025, just under €94,000 in Irish Aid funding was allocated by Misean Cara for projects seeking to address school dropout rates among marginalised communities and children with disabilities in one of the most isolated districts of Nepal, as well as providing education on non-communicable diseases. Through the embassy in New Delhi, which is accredited to Nepal, support was also provided to five smaller projects. These were focused on empowering people with disabilities, mental health, women and girls, and promotion of local economic growth through environmentally sustainable work. In 2025, total development assistance to Nepal through these channels amounted to €700,000.

I thank the Minister of State for his response and sincere interest in this matter. It struck me when looking at this that 2,300 people migrate from Nepal every single day and 30% of the GDP of the country comes from remittances. There has been political chaos for a long time in a country populated by people of incredible dignity, who have an interest in education, who are committed to progress and peace, and there is a serenity about the people of Nepal that is quite something to behold. Balendra Shah is the new Prime Minister. He is a young man of 36 years of age and a former mayor of Kathmandu. He promises to bring change but he will need support from countries like Ireland. Turning to our Presidency, I would appeal to see Ireland play a leading role during the course of our Presidency in encouraging Europe to do more.

It is really important to mention that over the last number of years Nepal has, unfortunately, been the victim of a number of very serious natural disasters. In 2023, a 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck, killing 153 people and injuring 400, at which time Ireland, through the Red Cross and Red Crescent, contributed to an EU aid package of €2 million. In April 2015, a more devastating earthquake of 7.2 magnitude struck just north west of Kathmandu. It was the worst in 80 years and over 8,700 people died. In response, Ireland directly provided €1.6 million in humanitarian response. I note the Deputy's comment that, following very real youth protests and what was a sort of Gen z movement, we saw in March the election of 275 members and a new Prime Minister, a man younger than me, from the national independent party. I actually met his predecessor this week last year in Seville. The undertaking, regardless of who the leadership comprises in Nepal, is that Ireland will continue to be a partner at a bilateral level and also, crucially, at a European level and there is a great opportunity for that in due course.

I am delighted to see the Minister of State has such a sense of youth about himself. The thing that struck me as well about that recent election, when I was there to participate in a training programme organised by INTER PARES for new parliamentarians, was the huge number of young people, even younger than the Minister of State, who have been elected to that new parliament. The deputy speaker of the parliament is a 25-year-old lady who has never held any political office before. To go back to my original question, can we please use our good offices to create some sort of system within Europe whereby Europe offers more genuine support to this wonderful country to help it make the progress that it is capable of making but which it needs support in achieving? Let us remember that this country still has the plague of leprosy in its diverse communities. They are living in the Himalayas, in valleys and mountains and in very dispersed locations. Can we please, through Europe, do more to help?

This will bring me to a broader section but I want to very much keep Nepal in the mind's eye because it is a key partner of the EU and one of the main areas where the EU provides supports is in the area of good governance, which would be of great support to the new, young parliament. Deputy Ó Fearghaíl described issues in relation to migration, remittances and poverty. There are over 3,000 Nepalese citizens here in the Republic and only 40 Irish citizens in Nepal, who are mainly doing voluntary and missionary work in the aid sector. It comes back to the whole area of development co-operation, which is an area completely under attack. We are living at a time when the EU and its member states represent over 50% of global development co-operation and if we throw in Britain and Norway, that rises to two thirds. That is due not just to the decision of the United States but to many other actors and that is having a direct consequence. Over the next number of months, there is a real weight on the shoulders of Ireland to develop huge progress on agreeing an EU budget, the multi-annual financial framework. Key to that is making sure that the ring-fenced commitment to development co-operation and humanitarian aid is supported and that that, in turn, will support countries like Nepal.