Mr. Derek O'Rourke:

I thank Mr. O'Keeffe. Before I address Senator O'Reilly's question on the cross-border resolution that is up for renewal, I can also address the Chairman's question on Idlib in terms of security in north-west Syria. Four days ago, on 5 March, we marked one year of a ceasefire in the north west, which is remarkable and great. We must understand, however, that the ceasefire in this context does not mean a complete cessation of violence and hostilities. It means a massive reduction in violence and hostilities, and for that, I say it is great. We must understand, however, that the front line which separates north-west Syria and Idlib from the Government-held areas is still active.

That brings me on to Senator O'Reilly's question on the cross-border resolution. I believe the argument of those who say it should not be renewed is based around the fact that there is a viable alternative in cross-line humanitarian aid rather than cross-border aid from Turkey, as we currently have in place, and that the humanitarian aid would come across that active front line I mentioned. The first barrier is that it is incredibly dangerous and not safe for humanitarian workers to try to deliver aid across an active front line in which there are daily incidents of shelling and sniper fire. There are landmines. Improvised explosive devices are lying around.

Just last December, nine months into the ceasefire, a humanitarian staff member of a partner organisation of GOAL was killed 7 km or 8 km in from that front line by a shell. It is not safe to do it and this is the first barrier to cross line delivery of humanitarian aid.

The second barrier is the infrastructure. We are talking about feeding and providing aid not to hundreds of thousands of people but to millions of people. This requires significant logistical effort. It requires a massive supply chain. The border crossing between Turkey and north-west Syria on which it is operationally done at present is huge. There are massive loading and unloading areas with hundreds of trucks per day. There is no infrastructure on that active front line at present. If the resolution is not to be renewed on 10 July, and the alternative is to be cross line humanitarian aid delivery, then that delivery has to begin on 11 July. In other words, where is the preparation for the type of infrastructure to deliver aid to millions of people across an active front line that has to be ready four months from now? We are simply not seeing it. There is no preparation on the ground for this kind of infrastructure.

The third barrier to cross line delivery of humanitarian aid is the historical record. Ten years of conflict is a decent amount of time to be able to establish a trend, and the trend over those ten years has been that cross line aid does not work. The parties that are required to facilitate cross line aid are not interested in delivering humanitarian aid across front lines in the Syrian conflict at a rate that is necessary to feed those millions of people in, as my colleague, Mr. Alheraki, said, an area the size of County Galway that has a population the size of Ireland squeezed into it and half of them are homeless because it is not where they are from but to where they were displaced. They are not living in adequate shelter.

As I mentioned earlier, when I addressed the Cathaoirleach's question on the status of the conflict in the north west, despite the ceasefire there are daily violations and daily conflict incidents and it is not safe.