merrion street

The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore T.D., will attend the International Conference of the Friends of the Syrian People, which will take place in Tunis on Friday, 24 February.

The situation in Syria has deteriorated markedly in the weeks since the failed Security Council Resolution on 4 February. This meeting will bring together Arab League Foreign Ministers, the US Secretary of State, EU High Representative Ashton, EU Foreign Ministers and others in an attempt to ease the grave humanitarian situation in Syria and lend political support to the Syrian opposition.

The Tánaiste’s attendance at this meeting sends a strong message about Ireland’s commitment to helping to resolve this grave international crisis. His attendance follows on from his visit to the Middle East in January and his discussions with the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, in New York on 9 February.

The Tánaiste has called for the international community to compel the Syrian regime to cease its appalling and unacceptable attacks on its own people through a series of robust economic, political and diplomatic measures. Today he condemned the continuing targeting of civilian populations in Homs and other cities, and the killing of three journalists, Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin, French photographer Remi Ochlik, and Rami al-Sayed, a Syrian whose live broadcasts from the city revealed to the world the gravity of the situation.