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

Ireland is strongly supportive of efforts to strengthen prohibitions on the use of chemical weapons and supports a range of initiatives to increase accountability for their use, as well as supporting an end to all war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Syria. It supports the international, impartial and independent mechanism established by the UN General Assembly, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic established by the Human Rights Council, and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and its fact-finding mission in Syria and joint investigation mission with the UN. We regret that Russia has used its veto at the UN Security Council to prevent a proper international investigation into the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

The situation in Syria is appalling and the suffering of the Syrian people must be addressed in a far more comprehensive manner than has been done to date. As I stated, the EU will host a donor conference for Syria next week, as it did last year. The EU, including its member states, is the largest single donor to the effort to support the Syrian people. Since 2012, Ireland has contributed over €95 million, including €25 million in 2017 alone, to the humanitarian effort in response to the conflict in Syria and will again make a significant contribution next week. Our approach is UN-led but, as I stated yesterday, I understand why some countries decided to move ahead while the UN Security Council is paralysed to respond to human rights abuses such as this because of the inappropriate use of a veto. Those countries have published the legal justification for their actions and that justification will be tested, as it ought to be. Ireland has not supported military action in this case. We continue to focus on civilians and their protection and the use of multinational mechanisms, in particular through the UN and, to a certain extent, the EU, to try to find lasting solutions that focus on an absence of future military intervention.

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