Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing us to raise the matter. I echo the sentiments Deputy Ann Phelan eloquently expressed. I am conscious that the Tánaiste has been active on the matter and that the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade will meet tomorrow for a special discussion on the issue. It is vital that parliaments discuss the crisis which is now of gargantuan proportions. There is a particular onus on those of us in the EU to take unified action. The European Union was a social and economic Union of great success. It has also, in itself, been very successful peace project. It behoves us to unite in a way that the UN has failed to do effectively in addressing the matter. We need to focus on the failure of the UN Security Council to address this dreadful crisis given the stance being adopted by the Russian and Chinese delegations in their own national interests. I call on the Tánaiste and other European foreign Ministers to liaise directly with their counterparts in Russia and China. It would be useful to call in the ambassadors of those two states.

Today's Financial Times carries horrific reports from the US Secretary of State, Ms Clinton, that the Russian Government is supplying attack helicopters to Syria to massacre its own people. The international community cannot stand idly by and accept what is going on in Syria where a monstrous regime is attacking and killing its own people. I echo what has been said about children in particular. While war - particularly civil war - is regrettable in every circumstance, to attack helpless, innocent children and put them at the forefront of this conflict is totally unacceptable and disgusts the Irish people. It goes to the heart of our belief in the need for us as an independent voice in Europe to stand up and be heard and not to allow ourselves to be in any way inhibited by our membership of the UN or EU. While acknowledging that the Tánaiste has been active, I ask him to redouble his efforts.

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