Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I did not see the television report to which Deputy Crowe referred but I join him in expressing my sympathy and the sympathy of the Government to those who have been killed in Syria.

There is a continuing slaughter of people in Syria, as the Deputy said. Current UN estimates are that 70,000 people have been killed, although that may be a conservative estimate. Approximately 1 million people have been driven out of Syria altogether and are in refugee camps in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon. Approximately 2 million people have lost their homes. There is a huge humanitarian crisis.

One of the areas where the European Union is making a big contribution and where we, as a country, have made a very significant contribution is in the provision of, and funding for, humanitarian aid. The question of where humanitarian aid gets to is a problem. I recently discussed with OCHA and the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva what needs to be done at a practical level to ensure humanitarian aid gets to where it is needed.

As regards the political path and the question of how we get a resolution to the crisis in Syria, it must be based around what Dr. Brahimi is doing. He is the UN representative and the representative of the League of Arab States. That must be supported by the UN Security Council. It has not been possible to get a robust resolution at the UN Security Council largely because Russia and China have vetoed efforts to get such a resolution. The European Union and individual member states have had discussions with Russia and China about the position they are taking on this because there is a necessity for the international community to speak with one voice on the issue. As a country, we have taken a number of initiatives to try to encourage that. For example, during the OSCE ministerial conference in Dublin, we facilitated a meeting between Dr. Brahimi, Foreign Minister Lavrov and the then Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, with a view to getting some progress on the situation.

It is against a backdrop of a degree of frustration that political and diplomatic progress is not being made on Syria. Meanwhile the Assad regime continues to be supplied with arms, as do some of the extremist forces in Syria. The question of whether the arms embargo should be lifted has been raised by some member states in the EU Foreign Affairs Council. There is a sanctions regime which, including the arms embargo, remains in place until 1 June. It will obviously be reviewed by the Foreign Affairs Council between now and 1 June. On the last occasion we looked at this, it was agreed there would be a variation of the embargo to allow for the delivery of non-lethal equipment, including protective gear, flak jackets, helmets and material that would protect people from attacks on them.

It is probably overstating it to say the European Union is divided because there is a unified position on Syria which has been agreed by the Foreign Affairs Council. However, it is no secret that some member states are seeking a relaxation of the arms embargo.

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