David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests to the meeting. I thank them for being here and for the work they are doing. We should always at this time think of all the people who have died in the past ten years in the conflict and the suffering that has gone on. It is important that we have this meeting because, as Deputy Brady said, this has gone off the political radar here. It is important that we refresh the minds of the people in Ireland on what is happening in Syria.

The Chairman and myself in our former roles have met many Syrians who have come here as refugees and settled here. We set up a committee sponsorship programme last year. I call on colleagues to look at that again. People can come here as refugees, settle into communities in Ireland and start a new life. Many people came from Lebanon. I know that mention was made of Lebanon and Jordan and those countries were under extraordinary pressure. However, at least there is no war happening there.

Someone said that the war is not over year in Syria and people are still in terrible danger. People who go back may not be safe either. I take note of what was said with respect to returnees and people not being forced back. They may be interrogated or worse if they do so in certain circumstances.

Can the NGO representatives comment on the role of the Covid-19 virus in northern Syria? We have been asked to highlight the need for the vaccines to be made available there.

How might that be done? What is the role of the virus there? Has it taken hold? What has been its impact? Is it possible to get the various vaccines in there to vaccinate people so that at least there is some protection against that, the other enemy that is out there. I note the remarks concerning high deaths and 80% below the poverty level. I hear people in Ireland bandy about words like catastrophic and disastrous, who say things are awful and terrible. I do not think that people here have even a vague notion of what our fellow human beings are suffering in places like northern Syria. We have not got a notion, we do not have a clue. I hear people talk about crisis in Ireland; there is no crisis here. If anyone wants to see crisis they can go to northern Syria or Lebanon or, as Deputy Brady said, Yemen and other places. That is where one will find crisis and devastation.

I support what the witnesses have sought with regard to the various resolutions. I think we have a unique place in the United Nations now and I will support anything we can do at UN level to progress and maintain the resolutions, to get the humanitarian aid in there and to try to get a lasting solution to this awful, difficult, almost intractable problem. I thank everyone here for the work they do and the people on the ground out there who are putting their lives at risk in so many ways and doing so much for these people who had good lives before the war, who were doing very well. I have met many Syrians here and was really impressed with them.