Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 October 2024
30. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if Ireland has signed up to the recent joint declaration of support for recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40318/24]
View answerIreland joined the EU, G7 and international partners in supporting the Joint Declaration of Support for Recovery & Reconstruction of Ukraine on 25 September 2024. This declaration reaffirms our strong commitment to helping Ukraine meet its urgent short-term financing needs, and to supporting its long-term recovery and reconstruction. At the invitation of Presidents Biden and Zelenskyy, I was honoured to attend an event dedicated to Ukraine’s economic recovery and reconstruction during UN High Level Week last month.
Since February 2022, Ireland has provided significant humanitarian and stabilisation support to Ukraine, focusing on addressing immediate needs and early recovery efforts. We are also engaged in discussions at EU level on short-term recovery and longer-term reconstruction efforts. The EU’s €50 billion “Ukraine Facility”, which was adopted in February and which Ireland strongly supported, includes investment in rebuilding critical infrastructure. We also recognise the important role of the private sector and civil society in these processes, and support a gender-responsive and inclusive recovery effort.
Bilaterally, Ireland funds UNHCR in Ukraine to provide emergency shelter and access to medium-term housing solutions. In 2023, UNHCR provided emergency shelter kits to 172,000 people, repaired the homes of 22,000 families and over 40,800 displaced people benefited from different forms of support in 546 collective sites to which people have been forced to flee.
Ireland has also provided €1.5million to UNHCR for the construction of prefab modular homes, which provide an opportunity for families whose homes were destroyed, to return to their communities and originally owned plots of land.
Ireland will continue to identify community infrastructure which we can help to rehabilitate, to ensure that the most vulnerable continue to have access to the essential services they need, and to strengthen Ukrainian systems, enabling longer term development. We are partnering with counterparts in Lithuania who have significant experience of reconstruction in Ukraine.
