Averil Power (Fianna Fail)
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I am interested in hearing what Ireland and the EU are doing to help bring about an end to the conflict in Syria, to stop Assad's aerial bombardment of civilians, to ensure food aid is getting through and to assist refugees fleeing their homes in terror. I also take this opportunity to stress the need for the international community to help address the root causes of the conflict and secure a brighter future for Syrians, without either Assad or ISIS.

ISIS are barbarians intent on imposing by force a particularly regressive form of religious fundamentalism on the people of Iraq and Syria. While the killing of foreign journalists and aid workers has attracted the greatest attention internationally ISIS has been mounting a vicious campaign against innocent Iraqi and Syrian civilians. Countless civilians have been injured or killed, while half of the population have been forced from their homes. In addition, ISIS has kidnapped school children, reportedly to turn the boys into terrorists and the girls into sex slaves. They are committing appalling atrocities and must be stopped. Blindly backing the current Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad is not the solution.

Assad is a tyrant who has used chemical weapons against his own people. His Government and secret police have routinely tortured, imprisoned and killed political opponents and those who speak out against his regime. Now, he is using the fight against ISIS to barrel-bomb innocent civilians. As pointed out by Human Rights Watch, Assad's barrel-bombs are the greatest threat to civilians in Syria. Assad does not use these bombs on the front line between Government troops and ISIS as he is worried, because they are such an indiscriminate weapon, that Syrian soldiers could be killed yet they are routinely unleashed in civilian areas in opposition controlled territory in an attempt to petrify innocent civilians.

If the international community is serious about stopping ISIS it must address the root causes of its rise.

Religious fundamentalism is one cause, but probably a minority one. President Assad's murderous reign is more significant. For some Syrians, ISIS is the only group they see standing up against President Assad. If the international community is serious about delivering justice for the people of Iraq and Syria, it must stop both ISIS and President Assad and support the development of a democratic and legitimate government in Syria. In 2013, President Obama described President Assad as a dictator and said he must step down. Now the US is working with him against ISIS. This short-term approach will not address the underlying causes of the conflict. There is a need for much longer-term thinking and bravery in helping genuine opposition groups in Syria and standing on the side of civilians against both President Assad and ISIS.

I have tabled this debate to ask what the Irish Government is doing to further this aim internationally, particularly through the European Union. The international response to date has been very weak. First it was to criticise President Assad but now, with the rise of ISIS, the US and others are backing President Assad against ISIS. However, there does not seem to be any long-term or intelligent engagement with a view to moving beyond both of these goals. What is the Irish Government doing to address that issue?

I also want to raise the issue of the refugees. The vast majority of refugees who make it out of Syia are living in neighbouring countries but increasingly, thousands are risking their lives, many of them dying on overcrowded boats, paying people traffickers to get them to the EU. They are being abandoned and are drowning at sea because the EU has not been able to come up with a collective approach to accepting its fair share of the refugees. What is the Irish Government doing to address that?

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I fully endorse the concerns expressed by Senator Power. The Syrian conflict has been a litany of unimaginable horrors. More than half the population has been displaced by violence and almost two thirds of Syrians, 12 million people, are in need of humanitarian assistance. Less than half of Syria's hospitals are fully functioning and around one quarter of schools have been damaged, destroyed or converted into shelters. This has left more than 2 million children without full-time education, jeopardising the future of the next generation.

The Assad regime's permissive approach to the rise of jihadist terrorist groups like ISIS proves that the regime is indifferent to the safety of its own people and to the survival of minorities, including the ancient Christian and other religious minorities across Syria. Countering the horrific brutality and extremist ideology of these groups is essential to the protection of vulnerable minorities across the Middle East. Ireland has called on the Security Council to refer the Syrian conflict to the International Criminal Court. In 2014, Ireland provided €14.9 million in funding to address the Syria crisis via NGO partners, the United Nations and the Red Cross and Red Crescent. This includes €2.4 million provided in 2014 to the World Food Programme for food assistance. This brings the total funding we have provided since the beginning of the crisis to almost €30 million.

The needs are enormous. It is not just a matter of providing aid but also of ensuring that it can get through to the people who most need it. This is particularly difficult inside Syria due to government bureaucracy, the hazards of the ongoing conflict and the threats to humanitarian personnel, which make it all but impossible to work in ISIS-controlled areas. The UN has authorised the delivery of cross-border assistance even without Syrian Government permission, as well as delivery across conflict lines, in an effort to reach as many people as possible. Ireland uses a number of different partners to deliver our aid in order to ensure the greatest access possible and to support refugees and host communities in neighbouring countries. Due to the violence and the lack of access to aid, huge numbers of people have left Syria, primarily overland into neighbouring countries. Some 3.8 million Syrians have fled their country and that number grows every day. Essential services such as health, education and access to water are under pressure in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. One in three people in Lebanon are refugees, placing the entire country under great strain. Syria's neighbours are also suffering security incidents from the spillover of the conflict.

Ireland and its EU partners have consistently supported the core principles of an end to violence and a political transition to a representative government representing Syrians from all communities, as set out in the 2012 Geneva communiqué. We have also expressed our support for the conflict freeze initiative proposed by UN special envoy, Staffan di Mistura, who met with EU foreign Ministers in December. Despite the failure of past efforts to negotiate an end to the violence, we have a duty to continue working for a political resolution to the conflict and will continue to work towards that end.

Averil Power (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. Although he said that Ireland and the EU have been pushing for an end to the violence and a transition to representative government, there is no sign of that getting anywhere. It is not something that has been getting any international attention. As a result, there is very little faith. I have met with Syrian representatives here in Ireland and there is very little confidence within Syria among the ordinary population that any real effort is being made to find a third way out of this conflict or to support the establishment of a genuinely peaceful and representative government. I ask the Minister of State to stress to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Flanagan, the need to redouble those efforts. We need to see a serious effort. Words criticising Assad are not enough when we are also backing him because in the short term, ISIS is seen as a greater evil. It is not enough. There is a need for proper and real engagement.

The other issue was barrel bombs. The Minister of State might ask the Minister to push for a no-fly zone over those areas because Assad is cruelly attacking civilian areas. His regime has bombed markets and places like that.

I welcome the fact that Ireland and the EU are contributing to food aid but the reality is that it has not been getting through. Given our own history of famine, I ask that a greater effort be made in order that the aid gets through. People are starving and they are starving to death, not because aid is not being provided but because Assad is cynically stopping it from getting to civilians in opposition-controlled areas, ostensibly as a way of trying to put pressure on ISIS, but really just killing innocent civilians. I appreciate that efforts are being undertaken but we need to do so much more. This is the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world and there seems to be so little international attention on it.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I agree with everything the Senator is saying. In fairness to Ireland, from a humanitarian point of view the commitment of €30 million since 2011 is significant. There is a major challenge in getting that through to the people who need it the most. The Senator will be aware that there is a donor pledging conference, Kuwait III, coming up on 31 March to seek support for the UN's humanitarian response. We are currently considering our pledges in respect of that conference.

On the security situation, the no-fly zone and the conflict on the ground, Ireland is playing its part and it has to be stated that the United Nations, and in particular the Security Council, have to address the failure to uphold international humanitarian assistance in Syria. They have to look at the deliberate targeting of civilians and minority groups. There is a function there for the Security Council and, through its own diplomatic channels, Ireland has also been seeking a resolution.

Syria has now moved from being the world's second-largest refugee hosting country to being the largest refugee producing country within a span of just seven years. As a Government and as a nation, we fully recognise the extent of this crisis. I believe strongly that we can deliver a further commitment of funding towards the humanitarian element through working with the NGOs on the ground.

I note the points that have been made on the bonds and the no-fly zone and will certainly relay them back to the Minister, Deputy Flanagan.