David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegation from Concern. I am a long-time admirer and supporter of the work it does. I note the indication on page 2 of the presentation that the 2014 appeal was only 46% funded. Can the countries which make up the other 54% be named and shamed? Can it be made public that their leaders have gone in front of the television cameras, as they do in every crisis, promising to give X million dollars but have failed to deliver? Naming and shaming seems to be a good idea.

The West has adopted a very pragmatic approach to Syria and put up with the barbarous activities of the Assad regime for a very long time. I recall when human rights lawyers were being arrested and tortured and the West did absolutely nothing about it. ISIS's behaviour is certainly reprehensible, horrible and appalling and must be condemned. Recording and broadcasting the beheading of people are particularly barbarous because of the sensitivities and feelings of the families and the viewers who see this type of material. On the other hand, one cannot but remember the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of civilians who were murdered in Iraq by the West by way of its saturation bombing campaigns, the use of drone aircraft and other abuses. What has happened to the standards of the West? Where a group of 25 people is blasted by a drone, that group might perhaps include one person who may be associated with some offshoot of al-Qaeda, but it also will include 24 civilians, including, in many cases, children. We have all heard the reports of wedding parties being wiped out and so on. Where is the justice for the people concerned? Admittedly, one does not see their dismemberment on television, but surely to God they are human beings also. One cannot kick a wasp's nest and then express surprise if one is stung. That is what the West has repeatedly done, however, and it has treated the populations of Muslim countries with contempt.

I disagree slightly with Ms O'Mahony's view that we should reproach ourselves for having taken in so few refugees in comparison with Turkey. As a Muslim country and a direct neighbour of Syria, one would expect Turkey to take a larger number. I agree that we should be accepting more refugees, but we should not beat ourselves over the head about it.

Peshmerga troops seem to be the most effective indigenous fighters and the most appropriate people to take on ISIS. However, they are being hampered by the Turkish authorities because they are seen as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, which is denominated, at the insistence of the Americans, as a terrorist group by the European Union. We like to blather about 2016 and all the rest of it in this country, yet we go along with the denomination of the PKK and Peshmerga as terrorist organisations when, fundamentally, they are freedom fighters. We then change our position and expect them to fight for us, without providing them with arms. Surely, if we want them to fight, we should give them the materials with which to do so. This issue is particularly acute in the town of Kobani where the Turkish authorities are preventing Peshmerga troops from returning.

I will end on a positive note with a question about the control of sand flies. Is Concern involved in replacing the Syrian Government with its programme for attacking sand flies? This would be immensely practical.

I am sure my colleagues will join me in endorsing the recommendations the delegates have presented. Perhaps we might formally pass them today. I will continue to fight for the restoration of the 0.7% allocation for overseas development aid. As I have pointed out repeatedly, because it is a percentage allocation, the actual sum will reduce as our gross national product reduces. We are simply paying a proportion of available resources. We can afford to do so and should do it.