Ireland

United States Agency for International Development Opinion Editorial April 18, 2023 THE IRISH TIMES There’s an old Irish ballad, written during the Great Hunger in 1848, about a starving child who asks his mother if he can eat three grains of corn, found in the pocket of an old jacket. “What has poor Ireland done,” he asks in the song, “that the world looks on and sees us starve, perishing one by one?” “Ireland remembers,” U.S. President Joe Biden said last week in his address before the Oireachtas, “the painful hollows of great hunger” – hollows that the 205 million acutely hungry people around the world are feeling as we speak. And Ireland remembers that in the face of such calamity, other nations have a choice: to offer support, or to turn away. So today, Ireland – a country of just five million people, whose GDP represents 0.2 per cent of the global economy – has emerged, as president Biden noted, as “a global leader in food security”. In my work leading the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), I’ve seen first-hand the impact of that leadership, and of the friendship and collaboration between our two countries. Just last week, USAID and Irish Aid announced a new partnership to improve long-term food security in sub-Saharan Africa, which is being roiled by the effects of climate change. Starting in Malawi, we’ll partner with agriculture companies and smallholder farmers to help them diversify their production with crops that are more nutritionally valuable, more profitable and better for the environment. These investments will help communities prepare for – or, hopefully, avert – the next food crisis. For years, Ireland has been punching above its weight in the fight against global hunger. Irish Aid dedicates 20 percent of its budget to combating hunger and malnutrition. And now – as natural disasters have increased in frequency and intensity, health systems have been decimated by the pandemic, and extreme poverty has …

United States Agency for International Development Fact Sheet April 13, 2023 Ireland’s historical experience with famine drives the country’s foreign assistance response to the global food security crisis – resulting in Ireland’s outsized impact on nutrition, food security, and gender responsive climate action. Together, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Ireland continue to strengthen their partnership to combat global hunger and support shared international development priorities. The commitments represent Ireland’s and the United States’ shared values, partnership, leadership, and commitment to people facing severe malnutrition and threat of famine. The coming years, with ongoing high levels of need, represent a critical time for the two countries to demonstrate joint leadership in food security, nutrition, climate adaptation and child wasting. Food Security/Nutrition Child Wasting: In July 2022, USAID announced an unprecedented additional $200 million to UNICEF to scale up access to wasting treatment for children in the face of the massive global needs resulting from climate change, the war in Ukraine, and the global food crisis. USAID’s contribution allowed UNICEF to scale up procurement of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) and wasting treatment programs in 13 countries and prevented breaks in critical assistance delivery, allowing an additional 2.5 million children to be treated for severe wasting through 2023. USAID’s subsequent challenge to other donors ultimately raised an additional $330 million, including a significant €50 million contribution ($54 million) from Ireland. Ireland's investment will reach up to 500,000 additional children with services for the early detection, prevention, and treatment of wasting. Ireland has played an important historical role in the development of community-based management of acute malnutrition, one of the most transformational developments in the treatment of …

Media Note Office of the Spokesperson November 18, 2022 Today in Dublin, Ireland, the United States joined more than 50 other States in endorsing the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas. The United States thanks the Government of Ireland for its dedication in leading this important effort. We also express our appreciation to all States, civil society organizations, and international organizations that contributed to the negotiation of this Declaration. Protecting civilians from harm in connection with military operations is a moral imperative. It is also critical to preserving civil society and restarting economic growth after the conflict is over. The United States is instituting major changes to our domestic policies and practices in this area, most notably through the Department of Defense Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan released on August 25. We are eager to strengthen our collaboration with allies and partners as part of the follow-on mechanism established in the Declaration, through which States will meet on a regular basis to review the implementation of the Declaration and participate in military-to-military exchanges. The atrocities committed by Russia’s forces as part of its aggression against Ukraine have made a global unified approach on this issue urgent. Russia’s attacks on civilian infrastructure and cities across Ukraine have destroyed parks, schools, apartment buildings, train stations, hospitals, and other public spaces. All States endorsing this Declaration are unified in their commitment to strengthen the protection of civilians during armed conflict and improve the implementation of international humanitarian law. For more information, please consult the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs website, or contact the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs Office of Congressional and Public Affairs, at …