Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the House for agreeing to hold this important debate. I note that just two of the 158 Members of the House are present. I have put my views on Syria on the record of this House on several occasions, most recently this morning at an Oireachtas committee meeting. It is important for all Members be given time to reflect on the widespread concern expressed by Irish citizens about the situation in Syria, particularly the siege and bombardment of Aleppo. The harrowing images on our television screens and in our print and digital media, especially the reports from Aleppo, have rightly created a sense of outrage inside the Oireachtas and across Ireland.

It is important to be absolutely clear that what is happening in Syria is a direct continuation of the events taking place there since March 2011. Assad's response to the emergence of a protest movement was to resort to the mass murder of his people. Schools, hospitals, food markets and bakeries have all been targeted for air and artillery strikes. The regime slogan was clear. The call was to side with Assad or the regime would burn the country. I do not doubt the determination of those involved. Their actions have made clear that they want to run the country or leave no country left to run. This is a regime which the United Nations commission of inquiry has accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. This is a regime which has used and continues to use chemical weapons against its people. This is a regime that the UN Secretary General said was responsible for countless killings and the maiming of children as well as for the arrest, arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and torture of children. This is a regime that has consistently undermined the efforts of the UN and the international community to end the conflict.

Ireland has been supportive throughout of a Syrian-owned and Syrian-led solution to the conflict. The Syrian people must have the freedom to exercise their rights, including the democratic right to choose their national leaders. These principles were set out clearly in Geneva in 2012 and have guided my interventions on Syria in Brussels and at the UN in New York, including for my address to the general assembly and at bilateral meetings with our international partners.

One regrettable aspect of the conflict is the manner in which terrorists and extremists, sometimes with support from regional actors, have coalesced and used the chaos and instability to promote their radical ideologies. The conflict has attracted violent extremists affiliated with militant groups, including Daesh, Jabhat Al-Nusra, Hezbollah and many others. On a recent visit to the Golan Heights, I was able to see clearly the parts of Syria now held by some of these Islamist factions.

In addition to Syria's long-standing divisions, we are seeing wider regional tensions being played out. Irrespective of which group is perpetrating the violence, it is the people of Syria who continue to suffer. It is appalling to see what is happening to the ordinary civilians of that country as this conflict continues to worsen. The only way to end the scourge of terrorism and extremism is by resolving the conflict through a political process and restoring the legitimacy and authority of the Syrian state across all of Syria.

I know that many Irish people are outraged at Russia's actions in Syria and its support of the Assad regime. I share this disquiet. Russia has vetoed resolutions at the UN Security Council to restrain this conflict, end the regime's illegal restrictions on humanitarian access, support efforts at a political resolution and provide legal accountability for the victims of the Syrian conflict on five occasions. Use of the Russian veto has protected the Assad regime, while repeatedly denying the Syrian people the legal protections provided under international law. I deplore this abuse of the authority which Russia enjoys at the United Nations.

The military intervention by Russia since September 2015 has been a self-declared mission to defeat terrorism. However, all the evidence is that Russia has adopted the same view of terrorism as the Assad regime, namely, that opposition to the regime amounts to terrorism. Russia has claimed that it is attacking terrorists in Aleppo. The UN special envoy, Staffan de Mistura, has said that there may be between 800 and 900 fighters in eastern Aleppo out of an estimated total population of 275,000. There is no logic in the massive attacks we have all been witnessing if the aim is to target a handful of terrorists. Hundreds of civilians in Aleppo have died. All the hospitals in eastern Aleppo have been repeatedly hit by military attacks, as have the civilian rescue services.

I do not even understand what Russia hopes to gain from the survival in power of an ally who has destroyed his country. Syria will need many years and immense funding to recover from this conflict. Russian support to Syrians other than Bashar Al-Assad has been sadly limited. The actions go far beyond what might be judged as errors or collateral damage and appear to be either reckless or deliberate and in violation of the rules of war. It is a matter of the gravest concern to me that a permanent member of the UN Security Council with a duty to the United Nations to uphold international law and the principles of the UN Charter could condone or engage in the bombardment on Aleppo. As the EU stated on Monday, this bombardment may amount to a war crime.

I wish to set out what I believe can be done to resolve this conflict and bring the agony of the Syrian people to an end. First, all sides must act immediately to restore the cessation of hostilities. Russia must use its influence on Assad to compel him to end his violence against the Syrian people. The illegal and systematic denial of humanitarian access must end. All sides must engage meaningfully in negotiations to achieve a Syrian-owned and Syrian-led political resolution based on the formation of a sovereign unity government. Finally, there must be accountability for victims of this barbarous conflict.

We count on Russia to fulfil the vital role it has chosen as a member of the international Syria support group to de-escalate the conflict and renew the political process. Today's brief pause in the bombing of Aleppo is simply not enough. Ireland stands ready to play a positive role. My EU colleagues and I spoke on Monday with the UN special envoy, Mr. de Mistura, underlining our continuing and strong support for his efforts to stem the destruction of Syria and her people. Today, the Taoiseach will be discussing the response of the European Union to the crisis and the EU approach to Russia to end this horrific violence at the European Council. I continue to press for accountability in order to provide the victims with the hope of redress and in the hope that it will deter those involved from worse atrocities. This approach has been behind our interventions at the UN in New York and Geneva. We will not let these crimes be forgotten.

There will need to be continued European and Irish support in Syria for many years to come. Ireland's response to the Syrian crisis and the plight of the Syrian people over the past five years has been unprecedented, providing more than €62 million in humanitarian assistance to Syria and the region to date. This support has been channelled through a range of partners, including NGOs, UN organisations and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, which are best placed to respond, often by linking with local civil society organisations to get aid to those most in need.

We have resettled hundreds of Syrians across Ireland, including in my home town, some of whom are survivors of torture by the Assad regime. We will accept thousands more. Together with our EU partners, we remain engaged through the EU in the international Syria support group. As I stated in my address to the United Nations last month, Ireland remains strongly committed to supporting the efforts of the United Nations to achieve both an end to the crisis and a sustainable peaceful resolution. We will reinforce this point in a debate on Aleppo at the UN General Assembly in New York today. The Syrian people continue to face great hardship and danger. Their struggle for liberty and dignity is far from over, but they can continue to count on the support of Ireland.

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