Mr. Niall O'Keeffe:

I thank members for their questions. Like Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan, I have been to Syria and Damascus in recent years and I echo her comments about the resilience of people in coping with the conflict. Our presentations have been focused on the perception of people outside of Syria and those who are displaced within the country and what they consider makes it safe for them to return.

In terms of the organisations engaging with the Government, or the international community engaging with the Government in Syria, we have referred to the UN-backed peace process in the presentations, which is the only game in town in terms of an international peace process. In January 2018, it was agreed to establish a constitutional committee and the UN special envoy has been leading that along with the various countries which are supporting it. There were meant to be 150 members. The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the UN special envoy issued a statement in which they were negative in their opinions about the engagement of the Government of Syria. The latter has not put forward members to the committee and has not endorsed its UN members. The international community has tried to engage with the Syrian Government.

There is a need for a lot more engagement because the peace process has to happen. If the conflict is to end, there needs to be a sustained peace process. All the parties need to engage on that.

With regard to Deputy Niall Collins's questions on refugees in Europe, the latter should take on a bigger burden in some ways. Ireland previously set a target of accepting 4,000 Syrian refugees. The number is currently fewer than 2,000. If the target of 4,000 could be achieved, it would be very positive.