Mr. Niall O'Keeffe:

To be honest, Ms Van Lieshout has made very positive and hopeful remarks. They are critically important.

As a group of organisations, we highlighted a number of areas that we believe are critical, including the renewal of the UN resolution for cross-border humanitarian assistance, the importance of safe return for refugees and internally displaced people and the importance of having a safe environment to which they can return. There is also the importance of humanitarian funding, and Ireland can play a role in that. Then there is the importance of the peace process and ensuring that every effort is made to find a lasting and peaceful solution to the conflict.

On behalf of all the organisations here, we thank the committee members for giving their time today. Syria is such a humanitarian crisis it is important to be able to get this profile and engagement from so many members of the committee. I thank them for attending today, listening to our issues, asking us questions and discussing it. I thank them for their participation.

Second, in terms of the humanitarian funding, we know Ireland has been very generous in its support in this crisis. We appreciate that it is something that works across the political system in Ireland. There is strong support for the humanitarian funding which Ireland has been providing in the Syrian conflict and in many other crisis situations. Our role as humanitarian organisations and as an international community is to provide a humanitarian response in this situation and to support Syrians who are in desperate need of such support at this time. We all believe that Syrians need to be in the driving seat in terms of finding a solution to this conflict that will last for them, and deciding for themselves what Syria will be like in the future. Our role is very much to provide some assistance to help them through this horrendous period. Hopefully, the international community can come together in supporting them, and enabling and empowering them to find a solution that is inclusive and respectful for all Syrians.

Once again, I thank the committee for its time and influence. We hope the members will take on board the issues we have prioritised and use the committee's influence wherever possible to press these priorities elsewhere.