Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Along with the Deputy, I welcome the sanctions being imposed on Syria, which has been done at United Nations level and at European Union level. At the most recent Foreign Affairs Council, attended by the Minister of State, Deputy Creighton, agreement was reached on those sanctions. In Libya there had been an earlier resolution, Resolution 1970, which essentially imposed sanctions. The problem was that the Gadaffi forces were attacking in a very vicious manner their own civilian population. What does one do when a regime starts bombing?

It is invidious to be drawing distinctions and comparisons. In Libya the Gadaffi forces were bombing their own cities. There is an obligation on the international community at a humanitarian level. The international community cannot allow dictatorial regimes to engage in that level of attack on their own civilian populations. I know many countries have very nasty regimes that deal in a very savage way with people who are protesting and so on. However, when a ruler of a country uses the armed forces of that country to engage in blanket attacks on civilians in his own cities, the international community has an obligation to act in order to protect those civilian populations.

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