Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy again for raising the grave humanitarian difficulty that is occurring in Libya. It is important to consider the events which led to the UN making the intervention it did. At the time, the then ruler of Libya, Colonel Gadaffi, was threatening attack and assault against the people of Benghazi. He was, in effect, threatening genocide against people inside his own borders. If the international community had not taken action in that period, it is likely that some voices would be criticising it now for not doing so. Deputy Wallace referred to the number of times the veto has been used at the UN Security Council. In recognition of the gigantic threat of violence that was posed by the Libyan ruler against his own people at the time, the Security Council passed a resolution authorising the action that was taken.

It is a regular feature of our engagement in this House that the Deputy will point to an awful difficulty that is occurring and I will ask what he would have the international community do about it. What he would do in a situation where a ruler is threatening genocide against his own people?

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