Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 9 October 2013

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade

Humanitarian Impact of Conflict in Syria: Discussion.

3:30 pm

Ms Jane-Ann McKenna:

There are such enclaves all over Syria. There is a lack of information coming out. People are not there. I read earlier a statement from one of our hospitals. We are in an area that is being bombarded on a regular basis and people are dying every day. It is only a very small percentage of cases that get reported where one hears about a school that has been attacked. The majority of cases are not reported. None of the incidents we witnessed in the two weeks in August were reported. There is much under-reporting. However, from our perspective it is important to continuously emphasise to the public that incidents are happening every day. It is not something that was happening last year or before the chemical weapons attack. Incidents are still occurring every day whether we hear about it in the media or not.