Darragh Murphy was funded under the summer 2018 round, to travel to Timor-Leste, ahead of the 20th anniversary of the country’s independence referendum. Peace has brought ecenomic growth, a contruction boom and the freest country in South East Asia. Although the Peacekeepers are gone, political instability remains and the oil and gas reserves are running out.
Darragh’s project explores the conflicting needs of the national economy on the one hand, and the basic demands of subsistence agriculture, health and education on the other. It also looks at the steps forward taken by a country still synonymous for many with its independence conflict.
Darragh’s work was published in The Irish Times:
- Funding fails to filter down to most needy on farms of Timor-Leste;
- Timor-Leste grapples with stark Greater Sunrise oilfield decision.
