The spokesperson would only go so far as to state: “We echo his call that, in order to provide accountability and justice for the victims, all crimes are investigated in line with international human rights standards, and perpetrators are brought to justice.”

Pat Breen TD, a member of the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade said that while the committee was closely monitoring the situation in the Middle East, he said it was difficult to confirm whether genocide was being committed.

The Government stance was offered just days after US presidential hopeful Hilary Clinton stated publicly that “we now have enough evidence” to use the word genocide in describing the suffering of Christians and other minorities at the hands of IS.

Opposition party Fianna Fáil has charged that the Government has “sat on their hands on the issue”. The party’s Colm Keaveney TD said: “Ireland’s proud track record in the area of international justice has diminished under the lifetime of this Government…it is time for Ireland to reflect on its capacity to deliver a message of conciliation, resolution and peace.”

Meanwhile, the former Vicar of Baghdad has insisted that the ongoing drive of IS against Christians in Iraq and Syria is, in fact, genocide.

Speaking in Dublin where he was meeting with political representatives, Canon Andrew White urged Western governments to do more on behalf of persecuted Christians.

Describing the reality in Iraq’s Ninevah region, Canon White said that where two years ago the region was “all Christian; now there isn’t one Christian left. They were massacred and their businesses were destroyed.”

Canon White, who was himself forced out of Baghdad in 2014, warned that Iraq and Syria are being ethnically cleansed of Christians.