Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is very difficult to quantify the number of people who have been killed owing to the restricted access. I have seen figures of 22,000 and up to 30,000, as the Deputy mentioned. Some 300,000 Syrians have been forced to flee to neighbouring countries. Approximately 1.5 million Syrians in Syria are in need of sanitation, food and medical aid. I discussed the humanitarian situation in Syria with the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, when I attended the UN General Assembly in New York. Immediately after this session today, I will meet the UN Under Secretary General, Baroness Valerie Amos, who has responsibility for the delivery and co-ordination of humanitarian aid and we will be discussing what needs to be done there. Ireland has contributed approximately €2.25 million to various UN and NGO bodies which are working on delivering aid.

The Minister of State, Deputy Costello, went to the region in August. He was in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan and saw at first hand the conditions under which people fleeing Syria are living. We are committed to working with the UN and humanitarian agencies to deliver humanitarian aid to those people, but of course we need to get an end to the violence and a resolution to the problem. To do that I believe we need a UN Security Council resolution. Last Sunday before the Foreign Affairs Council we had a very frank discussion with the Russian Foreign Minister about what needs to be done to secure a UN Security Council resolution.

See this speech in context