Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is most certainly an issue for this committee because the report refers to the common European asylum system. I would argue that there cannot be anything more relevant to the committee than that.

Syria has been touched upon. One's heart bleeds for the citizens of Syria. It is a terrible humanitarian crisis. I congratulate the European Union, which provided €400 million. We, ourselves, provided €9 million in humanitarian aid. However, I would like to think that we take a balanced approach to those who constitute the Syrian opposition. The report is rightly riddled with condemnation of the Assad regime but I have been reading reports that would make one vomit of atrocities being carried out, not only by President Assad's forces but by those who claim to be the liberators. I refer to arbitrary executions, beheadings, throat-slittings and unbelievable barbarity. Can Mr. Cooney tell us whether Ireland's position at the European Union is to push at the International Court of Justice to ensure that with all of these criminals - be they President Assad's criminals or the opposition criminals - we must take a balanced approach to the activities of those acting in a war zone?

I will further ask Mr. Cooney about Iran which has been touched upon. We hope the Iranian people have a successful election, which is imminent. I seek his advice. He may or may not be conscious that we are lobbied continuously by a group which claims to be the Iranian liberation movement, the Iranian government in exile. We get correspondence continuously from them and they are lobbying within and outside the Parliament. Given that Ireland was fairly well represented at the group's last Paris meeting, where a former Taoiseach led a delegation comprising Labour Party members, Fianna Fáil members and Independents, what is the position of the European Union? This group claims to have a foreign affairs committee and a government in exile of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Perhaps Mr. Cooney's position on this organisation might help Members of the House who are signing petitions being proffered by this organisation as to whether we should now align ourselves as a country with its demands.

I have mentioned Bosnia-Herzegovina previously at the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs. It is a tragedy. I know the region well. I knew programme refugees from Tuzla who had been bombed by the Serbs. Or was it the Croats? I forget who bombed them, but they were taken as programme refugees. They all did very well educationally and in business. Those Irish Bosnians are very concerned and are lobbying hard for a complete review of the policy of Europe towards Bosnia-Herzegovina. I ask Mr. Cooney because there is correspondence from the group. It seems it is pointing at us as a nation and Europe as a collective, stating that we should be doing more. Would Mr. Cooney support that argument or would he see that perhaps some of the main players are the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina, who seem not to be moving forward at the same pace and who are being left behind by Serbia, and Croatia which is now practically a full member of the European Union? Would he give his analysis of what is happening in Bosnia-Herzegovina and what is the solution?

On Macedonia, it seems that the simple issue of the Greek response to the name Macedonia is holding up progress and creating such difficulties. I understand the Greeks have a veto on the name but with the collective wisdom of an institution as large as the European Union, there must be some way around this in order to progress matters so that the name is not the issue that holds them up.

I will conclude by touching on-----