Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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168. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has discussed the issue of Syria with the British Prime Minister since Dáil Éireann rose for its summer recess. [39077/13]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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169. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has had any contacts with French President Francois Hollande in relation to the Syrian crisis. [39078/13]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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170. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the contact he has had with EU leaders over the summer recess in relation to the Syrian crisis. [39080/13]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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171. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if European leaders have recently discussed the situation in Syria; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39087/13]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 168 to 171, inclusive, together.

I spoke with the EU High Representative Cathy Ashton on Wednesday 28 August about the gas attacks in Syria on 21 August 2013. Syria was among the principal topics discussed at the informal meeting of EU Foreign Ministers which I attended in Vilnius on 7 September and where we were briefed on the US perspective by Secretary of State John Kerry. I and my EU colleagues agreed that the Syrian crisis should be addressed through the United Nations process.

Syria was also discussed in a wide range of meetings I had at the United Nations General Assembly last week, including with UN Secretary General Ban. In my address to the UN General Assembly on 28 September, I reiterated my unreserved condemnation of the appalling gas attacks in Ghouta on 21 August and I welcomed the UN Security Council Resolution of 27 September endorsing the framework agreed by the United States and Russia for the complete elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons. I have allocated €200,000 to support the vital work of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, assisted by the UN, in implementing these arrangements.

The Security Council has also called for the early convening of an international conference to address all aspects of the conflict and I am greatly encouraged by the indications that this could get under way in a matter of weeks. The inescapable reality is that the crisis can only be resolved politically through a genuinely inclusive negotiating process. In my address, I also reaffirmed the need for the removal of impediments to delivery of assistance necessary to alleviate the dire humanitarian situation and for full accountability for the 21 August gas attack and the many other serious human rights violations perpetrated in Syria.