Minister Brophy congratulates World Food Programme on receiving Nobel Peace Prize
Press release
10 December 2020Minister for Overseas Development Aid and the Diaspora, Colm Brophy T.D., today congratulated the World Food Programme (WFP) on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. The Prize was accepted by David Beasley, Executive Director, of WFP. The Minister said:
“It is fitting that the World Food Programme, a central part of the United Nations Humanitarian System, has today received the Nobel Peace Prize. The work of the WFP and its staff is crucial to saving lives and countering hunger every day.
The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the WFP rightly brings our attention to the 690 million hungry people in the world at a time when the UN is warning of the real risk that famine is looming in several countries.
Combatting hunger and malnutrition is a key part of Irish Aid’s work and Ireland is a strong supporter of the WFP. I congratulate David Beasley, together with his hardworking teams, who put themselves at risk in the most difficult, complex places in the world. In this regard, I think particularly of Mícheál Ryan, an Irish citizen who died in March 2019 while working for WFP in Africa.”
ENDS
Press Office
10 December 2020
Note for Editors
Ireland has provided over €25 million in support for World Food Programme’s humanitarian work so far in 2020, comprising core funding from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine complemented by country specific responses in Irish Aid programme countries.
