Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

It is difficult to speak in two minutes about the unending horror being faced by people in Syria. We tabled this topical issue on the fourth anniversary of the start of the conflict because after four years of unrelenting struggle, desolation reigns and there is no end in sight for the country's citizens. It is not that Syrian people support one political faction or another but that they are simply exhausted and war-weary. Millions are living in refugee camps where their basic needs are not met, while others starve. More than 200,000 people have been killed, yet nobody remembers the dead because there are no morgues and no functioning state to register their deaths. The economy has shrunk, poverty is everywhere and ISIS holds sway in large parts of the north and east of the country. Syria is in an unmitigated humanitarian disaster.

While it is necessary to look forward, we must also look back. When President Obama decided to arm the Syrian opposition Deputy Wallace and I argued in this Chamber that his decision would make matters worse rather than better. I do not feel good making that statement but it is true. Two years ago, Oxfam issued a statement in which it pointed out that sending arms to the Syrian opposition would not "create a level playing field." It continued:

Instead, it risks further fuelling an arms free-for-all where the victims are the civilians of Syria. Our experience from other conflict zones tells us that this crisis will only drag on for far longer if more and more arms are poured into the country.

This militarisation of the conflict is the nub of the issue. Military support by external forces, including bombing raids, must stop to create a space amid the desolation that would allow Syrians to try to grapple with a solution. As a neutral country, Ireland should be spearheading this call.

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