Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Let me first confirm to Deputy Daly that President Obama did not inquire about her whereabouts or well-being. The Deputy's comments are disgraceful and do down the pride of Irish people all over the world who were more than happy to see Ireland host the G8 summit of the leaders of the most industrialised nations of the world. For the Deputy to criticise the American President for offering his continued support for the fragile peace process in Northern Ireland where more than 3,000 people lost their lives in 30 years is a disgraceful doing down. If she represents the Deputies on the back row of the benches opposite, the comments she made were beneath her. Even the comments made by her colleagues, in their brilliance, have never matched what the Deputy has said here.

I remind Deputy Daly that communities in Northern Ireland, various Irish and British Governments and politicians from Northern Ireland have put together a very fragile peace. Far be it for her to criticise somebody who wants to support this process visibly, personally and by providing the assistance of the United States. Some 35 million Irish Americans want the peace process to continue. The young student who introduced President Obama in Belfast put her finger on the matter when she stated that Northern Ireland has both a past and a future. That future is one where peace should abound in and across communities. It is beneath the Deputy to state the American President should not be a party to keeping the peace process alive and visible.

In so far as Syria is concerned, there was a serious discussion among members of the G8 at the summit. I am not sure whether Deputy Daly favours the Russian intervention or the position put forward by the European Union. While there was division among the countries of Europe about the lifting of the arms embargo on Syria, Ireland took a very clear position on the matter, one which was articulated by the Tánaiste, namely, that the embargo should not be lifted. The conclusion of the G8 summit was that the Geneva peace talks should proceed. Nobody wants to see wanton slaughter and the exodus from Syria of hundreds of thousands of people. Far from a warmongering discussion, the question is what can be done to bring about discussions and negotiations that will restore peace and a structure to allow Syria to continue in the time ahead without the obscenities and humanitarian crisis we have witnessed in the past two years.

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