Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will not detain the Minister for long.

I compliment him and his Department on their efforts in mobilising the international community on this issue. It is a pressing issue where, once again, the international community appears to be sidelined, inept and incapable of taking immediate action. I put it to the Minister, who may choose to answer or not, that there is increasing evidence of the inability of the United Nations to intervene where the Security Council is not in a position to reach agreement on a resolution or whatever, that this is similar to other situations in the past, including in Kosovo, and that this, in turn, gives wide latitude and scope to despotic leaders in various locations who are safe in the knowledge that the international community cannot intervene.

Does this not pose the questions as to whether the United Nations needs to have its modus operandi revised, whether the European Union needs to examine whether it can be more convincing in its influence and whether NATO is the appropriate vehicle? I ask this in the clear knowledge that intervention in an internal conflict is a serious issue. Particularly where democracy has prevailed and elections have taken place, how can the international community impress on leaders in similar future conflicts that they cannot operate with impunity? That is the issue. It was the issue in Kosovo and other locations also. Perpetrators know full well that the international community cannot intervene and that, if it does, there will be repercussions. Intervening in the internal affairs of any state, regardless of its structures, carries with it serious difficulties. How can the international community reconcile the various arguments in an effort to ensure we will not be held up to ridicule internationally by various leaders or dictators, with the consequences we have seen?