Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I echo that call. What is being done by the dictator Assad is horrific. His brutal and vicious attempt to crush what was a genuine popular uprising by the people of Syria against his dictatorship has been cruel in the extreme and backed by the military might of Russia, unleashing carnage on the people of Ghouta. Thousands of people who need to be medically evacuated cannot get out. Promises of humanitarian pauses come to nothing. The people are being pounded by Assad with the assistance of Russia.

I do not believe in external military interference in this situation. That has made it worse. The Saudis and United States have also backed militias. Turkey is invading parts of northern Syria to try to crush the Kurds because of its internal politics. The Iranians, who are trying to get involved, have a major case to answer for disgracefully backing Assad in his horrific attacks. It is ironic that Iran can rightly talk about the need for solidarity with the Palestinian people and yet support the dictator Assad in the vicious assault that he is waging against the people of eastern Ghouta in a war that has led to 11 million people, half of the population of Syria, being displaced. Most of that number is the responsibility of Assad and his key ally, Russia, but plenty of others also have responsibility and blood on their hands. The least we can do is exercise moral pressure, call in the Russian ambassador and ask him to justify the horrific actions that his Government is responsible for in Syria.

See this speech in context