Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join my colleagues in welcoming our guests today. They have certainly brought home to all of us, in a very graphic way, the issues which we are all conscious of but which we probably need to be presented with in a very graphic fashion, as the witnesses have done today. What we are doing is a major element of heightening awareness in Ireland, within our national parliament, and hopefully at a European and UN level as well. It is obvious that it has occurred in all the countries that have been mentioned where politics has failed and there is a major need for the international community to redouble its efforts to try to restore peace, stability, and normality.

Deputy Quinn made a very practical suggestion for us to hold the representatives of some of those countries to account and to see how they are measuring up against what they have signed up for within their own countries. That would be a very useful debate and discussion to have at the committee.

Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan mentioned the very significant issues of refugees fleeing torture in the various parts of the world and particularly the major issue of refugees from Syria. We need to take on this issue as a country and we are not doing enough. We have our own problems with accommodation, trying to house homeless people in our country and we are facing major challenges in that regard. Nevertheless, these people have nothing at all and there is no support from anybody. It is incumbent on us to have a major debate in this country on the level of support we can give to these displaced people.

Support is given by Irish Aid to the various non-government organisations and Bishop McAreavey raised the issue of direct aid to churches and religious minorities in the Middle East to rebuild their communities. It certainly seems a laudable suggestion. We have to be cognisant of the issue raised by Deputy Smith on the possibility of that causing further difficulties. I am sure there are ways around this. Ms Smith might spell out a little more what she means by the denominational protectionism and organised corruption. Could she put a little more flesh on that for us? I thank everybody for their contribution. Following this, we should review all the excellent recommendations made by witnesses and see how we can proceed to highlight this issue both at the Government level here and also at EU and UN level.