Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

That is the issue. The Tánaiste has been arguing that point much more than I have, for example at the Foreign Affairs Council when it considered whether it would be appropriate to lift the arms embargo to allow the opposition to acquire some weapons. While member states agreed to look for a solution, they could not agree fully on the way forward. It was eventually decided to lift the arms embargo. Neither of the countries that was anxious to lift the embargo at the time - Britain and France - has actually supplied any weapons to date. It is very difficult, certainly from this country's point of view, to understand how the supply of weapons might increase the chance of peace. The opposition is very divided. Some of the more militant Islamic opposition groups, such as al-Nusra Front, have divided further. They have split again. The clear danger when one provides arms is that one has no indication of how those who get them intend to use them. On the other side of the equation, there is a split between the two great powers - the US and Russia. It is likely to be a tit-for-tat situation. The provision of arms is certainly unlikely to provide any solution.

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