Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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90. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the degree to which he and the international community continue to positively influence the situation in Syria with particular reference to the need to protect the civilian population and address the widespread human rights abuses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1776/14]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Ending the conflict is Syria is a critical objective for the Government and the wider international community. The cessation of the present violence is essential to addressing the widespread abuses of human rights and the crimes committed by the Assad regime and opposition armed groups against the civilian population of Syria.

Ireland strongly supports the efforts of the UN and the international community to hold the Geneva II conference later this month and urges that all parties within Syria, as well as international stakeholders, should make every effort to reach a negotiated peace.

I have called on a number of occasions for the UN Security Council to refer the crimes committed in Syria to the International Criminal Court. There must be some form of accountability for the all too many serious human rights violations which have been committed in this conflict.