Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair and the members for bringing me in early and I thank the Minister for his presentation.

I will not take up much of the committee's time and will give the Minister time to answer. I wish to raise the issue of Syrian detainees. The committee met Ms Ghufran Khoulani last Thursday. She told a very harrowing personal story of her three brothers who were detained, tortured and ultimately murdered in Syria. It is believed that tens of thousands of Syrians remain detained and their fate is unknown. This committee undertook to bring the matter to the Minister's attention as a high priority and to investigate the possibility of raising it as at the UN Security Council.

I thank the Minister for his update on Tigray and commend him, his Department and the staff in New York on the recent resolution passed by the UN Security Council, which is very significant. It is a credit to this country that we have raised the ongoing issue of Tigray at Security Council level and got that resolution passed. We have had a very special relationship with Ethiopia down through the decades and perhaps have more influence than most with the Ethiopian Government so it is laudable that we have taken that issue to the highest stage. Could the Minister comment on what he thinks the next steps will be with regard to that situation?

My colleague, Deputy Costello, submitted a question to the Minister, which the Minister acknowledged, on Western Sahara and ongoing human rights abuses as identified by Amnesty International and others. Could the Minister comment on the situation in Western Sahara, Ireland's position and our efforts to improve the situation there?