Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister said the attacks may, indeed, amount to war crimes.

Why would the Minister preface his remarks with words like "maybe"? These are war crimes. The involvement of Russia, presumably in pursuit of its strategic interests, has enabled the Assad regime to continue making war on its own people. Assad said there would be no more humanitarian causes. What is the attitude of the Minister to that?

I think the Minister was in the Chamber with me when we heard the news about Srebrenica. The situation in Aleppo has also been compared to Guernica. Some 250,000 people are suffering in east Aleppo. It is a total outrage and a war crime.

What is the Minister going to do about it? For example, has he met the representatives of the Saudi Arabian Government? If one tracks the role of Al-Nusra, fascist groups like ISIS and other groups in Syria and Iraq, ultimately the trail always leads back to Saudi Arabia. The Minister mentioned that he had met an Egyptian counterpart with people in the Arab League. We seem to be almost like helpless, bewildered bystanders. We need to take action. Along with his colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality, I ask the Minister to tell us where the refugees this country promised to bring to security and safety are. People are fleeing the country.

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