Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 28 March 2018
88. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on the recent report that Israel is responsible for a 2007 air strike on a Syrian nuclear reactor; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14032/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThere was never any real doubt that the 2007 airstrike on a target in Syria was carried out by Israel, and the recent declassification in Israel of information relating to it has only confirmed what was already known. My concerns about Syria are focused on the consequences of the appalling violence into which the country has descended in recent years. Any use of military force is something which Ireland would always see as a last resort. However, in view of the Syrian Government’s evident and heinous willingness now to use conventional and even chemical weapons indiscriminately against its own civilian population, it is not a matter of regret that the Syrian Government’s attempt to develop a nuclear programme was brought to an end some years earlier.
