Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Yes, we have. We have drawn attention to the fact that there are countries that have made commitments to provide humanitarian aid and that these commitments have not been delivered on. We have delivered on our commitments and the European Union is also delivering. We support the holding of the Geneva II talks. A special preparatory meeting took place under Special Envoy Brahimi in early June. However, it did not lead to much progress and there was a further preparatory meeting yesterday. It is a matter for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to issue formal invitations. At this stage it does not seem that the conference will begin next month as planned, in part because Ramadan is due to start on 9 July.

Regarding the calls made for the establishment of a no-fly zone, this would obviously necessitate broad international agreement and could only be authorised through a UN Security Council resolution specifically mandating such a step. Given that the Security Council has not been able to agree to any resolution on Syria since the conflict erupted in March 2011, it appears most unlikely that there is the political will within the Council to reach agreement on such a proposal.

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