Mr. Barry Andrews:

Possibly. It is frustrating given the gravity of the humanitarian situation, which is not disputed by anyone in this room. The issue is to get the matter outside the room. Deputy O'Sullivan referred to the striking statistic that 20% of donor pledges have not been met. Surely, that is a platform for the committee members as parliamentarians. They could raise it constantly. It is not a question of exploring the difficult issue of sovereignty and the duty to protect it; it is simply a question of keeping promises and showing solidarity for citizens who are being hammered by this war.

It is not an intractable problem either. There are people who dismiss Syria. It does not engage the public, which dismisses it as being an issue in a hopelessly violent part of the world which sits on a tectonic plate of conflict where there are many competing interests. Russia, China and Iran appear to be on one side with Israel on another. That does not make it completely intractable. The North of Ireland was dismissed as a problem which could not be solved at one time. Being unable to do everything is not an excuse to do nothing. There are things which can be done. As a humanitarian agency, GOAL wants simply to get safe access to deliver our aid, capacity, competence and experience to this area. To reply to Deputy O'Sullivan, aid is not getting to where it is needed. The UN is pulling its hair out. Valerie Amos is saying this is the worst humanitarian catastrophe in a long time. The UNHCR is seeing 5,000 people a week pouring over the borders of Syria into neighbouring countries, including Turkey, Jordan and the Lebanon. Unfortunately, the need is not being met.