Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have advocated very strongly the viewpoint that the EU needs to take a more robust political approach to trying to deal with the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen, which is essentially a funded civil war, with funding and arms coming from outside. There are a number of countries responsible for this continuing. The EU does need to play a constructive and determined role in trying to bring an end to it. Ireland does not have the capacity to announce trade embargoes on its own because trade policy is the collective responsibility of the EU. In any case, many countries would argue it is easy for Ireland to say what it is saying because it is not exporting anything in the arms category. Our announcement would be a somewhat hollow gesture but I do believe Ireland needs to be a country that advocates much more robust engagement by the EU. It should demand of the EU and its foreign affairs team answers and actions that can result in a more proactive response than has been evident to date.

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