Ms Mary Van Lieshout:

I thank committee members for their committed questions and their leadership on this issue, which is important to all of us who have been working on the front line for the past ten years. I want to respond to Senator Martin's question about hope. It is important to say that the real heroes or stalwarts are the Syrian people and the Syrian NGOs who are on the front line. They are continuing daily to show up, cross the front lines and take brave decisions. Our hope lies, first and foremost, in supporting the people of Syria to come to the table and find solutions. I have 600 Syrian colleagues. As the committee heard earlier, many humanitarian workers have died over the past ten years and the vast majority of them were Syrian. They took a pledge to work for a humanitarian agency in this conflict and we should all be hopeful their bravery spills over.

There are other elements of hope too. I acknowledge the courage and bravery of the Irish Government in seeking a seat on the UN Security Council. We cannot forget that in the past four to six years, the multilateral system has been under tremendous attack from different political elements around the globe. It has been one of the most discouraging periods for the multilateral system but it was in that context Irish political representatives said they believe in the UN and in multilateralism. I never want us to lose faith in the multilateral system, as much in need of reform as it is. The Irish Government has positioned itself wisely and bravely on the Security Council. I agree with Dr. Mhaissen that this sends a message of hope.

Let us not forget there are individuals on the front line. I commend Ms Geraldine Byrne Nason, our ambassador on the Security Council. She is meeting tirelessly with NGOs to make sure she is bringing on-the-ground information from all of the world's hotspots into her conversations. I commend the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, on his recent travels to the Middle East. He travelled to the humanitarian access point in Turkey to see the practical difficulties that would arise if that border crossing closes. There is the institution of Ireland and there are some individuals who continue to give us hope today.

Let us not forget the bigger picture. We have seen a shift in the US Administration, a very hopeful and helpful shift. We can have hope that the first outings of the new Administration have been very positive for multilateralism. I am deeply hopeful the leadership of the Biden Administration, the leadership of Joe Biden himself during the Ebola crisis will come to the fore on Covid. His leadership under former President Obama will shine through and multilateralism will be strengthened. We will be at a table where peace and human rights are part of the conversation again.

I hope that is all not too ethereal, but I believe there are practical reasons, from the people on the ground to the global leadership we have today, to have hope. To repeat what Dr. Mhaissen said, I thank the committee members for their attention, for attending this meeting and for standing with all of us on the ground who are working so hard on this. I thank them for their solidarity. That is also part of our hope.