Arthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour)

I welcome the opportunity to discuss the dire situation in Syria. What is happening in that country shows the lack of respect for human life by President Assad. He calls himself president, yet the country has been run by himself and his father for 41 consecutive years. Assad was elected unopposed in 2000 and 2007. Unfortunately, now we see why no opponents put themselves forward for these elections by the way of the current regime. There is a cruel irony in this, as President Assad is a trained medical doctor who worked in hospitals in Damascus for many years prior to getting involved in so-called politics, and, in reality, as we all will be aware, replaced his father as a dictator of Syria.

When I learned of his background in medicine and of his years in working in hospitals, it aroused suspicion within me as to how much control the army has over the killings that are taking place in Syria and the level of collusion that was shown in "Prime Time" on Monday night between the medics and the army. This evidence leads me to believe that international sanctions currently being imposed on Syria will not bother President Assad and the army which is propping up this regime at his behest. He was put in power with the approval of the army and it shows what kind of regime it is.

In Kosovo in the 1990s and in Rwanda also, the international community was slow to react and, subsequently, we found out that thousands of people, and in the Rwanda case hundreds of thousands, had been massacred. I would like to see further intervention, possibly from the UN and NATO. I want Ireland to put pressure on the international dimensions that exist for us to do so. It is not enough to stand idly by, and especially when one sees organisations such as the Red Cross being prevented from entering borders at present. We need to raise the profile of what is going on but we also need action. I am appalled by what I perceive to be Russia's and China's lack of interest in human life.

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