One of the first Syrian families to arrive in Ireland from the war-torn region have given their reaction to the tragic death of toddler Aylan Kurdi in Turkey.
The Almasri family, who arrived here within the last year, are one of about 20 families brought here by the United Nations and the Irish government.
Mother and Father Mazen and Seba are living together with their adult daughter Rawan (20) and their son Mohammed Fadi (Fadi), who are both trained pharmacists. Another younger sister started secondary school in Portlaoise this week.
Speaking last night, Rawan reflected on the pictures of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi's corpse that have shocked the world.
Aylan's tragic death is an example of the much larger "Syrian tragedy", she observed.
The Almasri family hope "that people will look at it and help the Syrian people. He is a child and millions in Syria face the same situation. Many Syrian people - including women and children - are dying every day."
The family are calling on the Irish and international governments to act to try and prevent more tragedies like young Aylan's.
They spoke to Newstalk.com's Moncrieff show earlier in the week.
The Almasri family themselves left behind a successful bakery, a home, family and friends when they left Homs three years ago.
They stayed at a refugee camp in Jordan for several months before travelling to Ireland, and eventually to Portlaoise.
But they did not have to pay smugglers to journey here, as the Kurdi family did, and for that they are very grateful.
In Syria they have dreams, but without hope
Rawan, who has been in Ireland for eight months, told Moncrieff reporter Henry McKean about what she had witnessed before her family made the decision to flee their home town.
"I saw everything, I saw the blood, the people died by Assad. And I saw a lot of force. ...I saw everything."
Her brother Fadi feels lucky to be in Ireland: "They chose me from millions."
Rawan understands the desperation hundreds of thousands of refugees desperately trying to make their way to Europe must feel.
"I feel so sorry for them...I feel I need to do something for them, but actually I am in this situation. I am one of them."
"I have been through a lot of tragedies, in Jordan, in Syria. I want that to stop because I know that feeling of the children and the women."
She describes the desperation someone who is forced to flee their home feels: "Children, women, men. Trying to cross but without hope. And they know that maybe they will die in the Mediterranean Sea, but still they go... Three years in war you feel like there is no life anymore, there is no hope.
Fadi agrees: "They escape from bomb, from Assad, then they died in the sea. It's too sad for them."
Ireland should help
Sister Rawan is grateful to the Irish government for allowing her to be here, but she thinks more could be done: "I think Ireland has done a lot for Syrian people. Like me. They helped me to escape from death and live a normal life."
"I think Ireland can take more than 600. I think they have opportunities to help people there."
Fadi says Ireland will benefit from any refugees we accept - he describes the refugee attitude: "Ireland helped you, you must help Ireland."
Meanwhile, the Justice Minister has indicted Ireland will take many more refugees, but has refused to put a number on that intake.
Rawan's greatest wish is just to be able to return to Syria: "I'm 20 years old. We need the end. We need to go back to Syria. We need to stop this war. If those families who come to Ireland stayed for a thousand years, Syria will never come back".
Brother Fadi says the solution must come from external sources "The politicians there (in Syria) are just talking anti-Assad. They didn't do anything for Syrian people."
Meanwhile, he says, the Syrian population has shrunk from 22 million to just eight million.
