Skip to main content
Normal View

Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 23 Feb 2022

Vol. 1018 No. 5

Security Situation in Europe: Statements

I wish to open this debate with a clear and unambiguous statement, one that I know will resonate throughout the course of the debate: Ireland is unwavering in its support of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. In 2014 Russia invaded Ukraine and illegally annexed the Crimea peninsula. Since then, the conflict in Ukraine's eastern region of Donbas has endured, with dire humanitarian consequences.

On Monday night the United Nations Secretary General stated that the decision of the Russian Federation to recognise the independence of the non-government-controlled areas of Ukraine was a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and inconsistent with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations. A rare emergency session of the United Nations Security Council was convened late on Monday night. In her opening remarks to the session, UN Under-Secretary General Rosemary DiCarlo captured the gravity of this moment, stating, "The risk of major conflict is real and needs to be prevented at all costs." Ireland spoke clearly to underline that the decision to recognise the breakaway territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine is a flagrant violation of international law. Ireland sought a seat on the Security Council because of our belief in multilateralism. As we said on Monday night in New York, the Security Council and its members have the responsibility to work to resolve this conflict. This is the time to show the courage to pull back from the precipice and to return to dialogue and diplomacy. Ireland believes in and is fully committed to the core principles enshrined in the UN Charter. These include sovereign equality and territorial integrity of states. Ukraine has the same fundamental right as every other sovereign and independent state to choose its own foreign policy and to ensure the security and defence of its own people and territory. The commitments we make as members of the UN are binding on every one of us, with no exceptions, regardless of how big or powerful a member state is.

It is our responsibility as a Parliament to stand up and to speak out to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders. Those borders have not changed. The decision by President Putin to recognise the so-called people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk does not change those borders one iota. Ukraine's borders today are what they were on Monday and what they were on its independence more than 30 years ago, in 1991. In statements in this House and in the Seanad, Members have shown consistent support for Ukraine and an appreciation of the difficulties the country faces. Last week Ukraine's ambassador to Ireland, who is here with us in the Gallery this evening, addressed our Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, where Members of both Houses, from all parties, expressed their support for Ukraine.

That support is reflective of a broad sympathy with Ukraine across Irish society. That sense of solidarity has been palpable as this crisis has dominated international news in recent weeks and months. We have in recent times welcomed closer links with Ukraine, driven by increasing business and family ties. I understand that Ukrainians are now in the top ten of dual national communities in Ireland by population at well more than 4,000 families.

Here in Ireland, we know the value of the rules-based international order. It has served us very well. We know the importance of respecting the voice and integrity of all countries, big, small and medium-sized. Most fundamentally, we know the value of peace. We know that one state threatening and using lethal force against another to get its way or to expand its territory is no solution. Ireland has a deep understanding, informed by our own history, that it is dialogue and respect, not violence, that resolve disputes. This drives our solidarity with Ukraine this evening and will drive it in the weeks ahead.

For many months Russia has been conducting a build-up of troops near and around Ukraine. It is currently estimated there are at least 110 Russian battalion tactical groups and 190,000 troops in place in and around Ukraine's borders with Russia and Belarus. In addition, we see the deployment of very substantial naval assets, including in the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, as well as combat aircraft and helicopters. This massive build-up of troops and combat equipment is happening at the same time as a significant increase in false flag operations, disinformation and propaganda efforts.

All of this would suggest that, contrary to the Russian Government’s repeated assertion that it has no wish to invade Ukraine, there is a real possibility President Putin is considering a full-scale invasion of that country. We see clearly that the Russian Government is willing to use military aggression against Ukraine in order to get what it wants. At this crucial hour, it is important to speak plainly on this matter. This is what the Russian Government did in 2014 and what it threatens to do again. This has no place in the modern world, particularly in Europe. Have we not learned from history? A resort to military conquest, for one state to impose its will unilaterally against another or to annex parts of another's territory should be unacceptable to all of us, particularly on this Continent.

The current situation in eastern Ukraine is of grave concern. The conflict has to date claimed more than 14,000 lives in that area. Thanks to the efforts of the Trilateral Contact Group, which involves Russia, Ukraine and a representative of the OSCE, a new ceasefire was brokered in 2020. Unfortunately, in recent weeks there has been a marked increase in ceasefire violations and credible reports of shelling on Ukrainian army positions. In December, Russia published security demands addressed to NATO. The substance of some of those demands violated the right of states to pursue their own sovereign foreign policy choices in the context of their own security. They included demands that there be no further expansion of NATO and that NATO military infrastructure be rolled back from some states. We in Ireland are clear that it is our sovereign choice which international organisations we should join or not join, as the case may be. We cannot countenance one state dictating to another which organisations it should be involved with. This is well understood by all of our EU partners.

Russia’s demands, were they to be seriously entertained, would amount to a significant rewriting of Europe’s security architecture, by which I mean, essentially, the set of agreements which were put in place in the decades following the Second World War to ensure that the horrific events of those years would not be repeated. The destruction of the war years was enabled by the belief that military might makes right, regardless of other considerations. That is the culture which leads to world wars. After the unprecedented devastation created by the combination of this philosophy with modern weaponry, that culture was no longer tenable for Europe. That is why we put in place the agreements I refer to, including, under the auspices of the OSCE, the Helsinki Final Act of 1975. These agreements and a return to the Normandy format continue to offer the framework for a diplomatic resolution of the current situation.

The suffering and immense fortitude of the Russian and Ukrainian peoples during the Second World War is well known and remembered. I am sure the Russian people do not want to see Europe return to war. Our deep concern about the actions of the Russian leadership does not diminish the friendship and respect we have for ordinary Russians, including those who have built a future in Ireland. This issue is wider than Ukraine. It affects the whole of Europe. This is a challenge to the principles and agreements which have kept Europe comparatively secure and peaceful in our lifetimes. We cannot take that security and peace for granted any longer. This is why our solidarity with Ukraine is unwavering. True solidarity stems from an understanding that a harm against one affects all. It is with this sense of unity and mutuality that we extend our continued support to the people of Ukraine.

For a year, EU discussions on Russia’s aggressive stance towards Ukraine and EU contacts with the Ukrainian Government have been intensive. Some commentary has suggested EU disunity on the issue. I want to address that directly because EU unity, in my experience, has been remarkable. Each of the EU 27 member states has its own concerns, emphases, history and geography and different states have different relationships with Russia. However, there has not been disunity. Every state has recognised the grave threat Russia’s aggressive stance towards Ukraine poses to peace and stability on our Continent.

In April 2021, EU foreign ministers were united in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. They were united when I attended the international Crimea platform in Kyiv in August, expressing Ireland’s support for the peaceful de-occupation of Crimea by Russia. Our countries’ leaders met in the European Council on 16 December where they reiterated the EU’s full support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and made it abundantly clear that any further military aggression against Ukraine will have massive consequences and severe cost in response. In January, I and my fellow foreign ministers met in France. The security situation was discussed in detail and unity was the dominant theme of the conversation then, as it is today. The conclusions which followed the 24 January Foreign Affairs Council show the strength of EU consensus on this most serious of issues, namely, the security of our Continent. The EU reaffirmed our commitment to the core principles on which European security is built, enshrined in the UN Charter and the founding documents of the OSCE, including the Helsinki Final Act and the Charter of Paris. These include notably the sovereign equality and territorial integrity of all states, refraining from the threat or use of force, and the freedom of states to choose or change their own security arrangements. We reaffirmed that these principles are neither negotiable nor subject to revision or reinterpretation. We stated that their violation by Russia is an obstacle to a common and indivisible security space in Europe and threatens peace and stability on our Continent. We also underlined the role of the OSCE as the appropriate forum to address security concerns of all interested parties. We welcomed the efforts of the Polish chair-in-office to swiftly initiate a substantial dialogue on European security.

The decisions which Russia has taken this week to violate the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine stand as a severe breach of international law and of international agreements which Russia has signed. Russia has broken its commitments to work with the Normandy format and the OSCE Trilateral Contact Group to find a peaceful settlement and is violating UN Security Council Resolution 2202, which requires full implementation of the Minsk agreements.

Together with our EU partners, we have urged Russia to reverse its recognition, uphold its commitments, abide by international law, and return to meaningful negotiations and dialogue without delay. I have instructed senior officials in my Department to summon the Russian ambassador this evening to underline Ireland’s strong views on these issues. The EU has responded swiftly to Monday’s moves by Russia, as is clearly warranted. In close co-ordination with international partners, discussions have been ongoing on an initial package of targeted sanctions, which was adopted this afternoon.

The EU sanctions will target the following: 336 members of the Russian state Duma who voted for this violation of international law and of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, in addition to 22 members already on EU sanctions lists; 26 decision-makers responsible for the threatening of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and individuals and entities financially or materially supporting them or benefitting from them; those in the defence sector who play a role in destabilising actions and those who wage a disinformation war against Ukraine; selected banks that are financing Russian decision-makers and other operations in those territories; economic relations between the two breakaway regions and the EU, to ensure that those responsible clearly feel the economic consequences of their illegal and aggressive actions; and

the ability of the Russian state and Government to access the EU’s capital and financial markets and services, to limit the financing of aggressive policies.

The EU stands ready to adopt additional measures later, if needed, in light of further developments. Ireland will work to ensure that all EU sanctions are implemented here, including in respect of financial services and the IFSC. At this critical moment, Ireland stands alongside Ukraine and reaffirms that an attack on Ukraine would represent an attack on the entire rules-based international order. Such an attack will be met with severe consequences, as I think we have made very clear.

What I want to focus on in my final comments is that dialogue and diplomacy remain the only way forward and the best way to resolve political differences and preserve peace. The alternative is war and sanctions in both directions. In that scenario, not only will Ukraine, unfortunately, suffer the enormous human cost of war, with thousands of people losing their lives, but the very security structure of relationships on this Continent between Russia and the rest of Europe will be fundamentally changed for the worst for quite some time to come. The focus, therefore, must not be on how we respond to increasing conflict or war, but on how we prevent it.

I welcome the ambassador to the Chamber to listen to an important debate at a difficult time. It is difficult to overstate the significance of what is happening in Ukraine and of the dangers that Russian aggression holds for international peace. The potential for a devastating conflict is, unfortunately, very real. I take this opportunity to restate my party's commitment to the principles inherent in United Nations Resolution 68/262 adopted by the General Assembly on 27 March 2014 concerning the territorial integrity of Ukraine and its sovereignty. The UN resolution specifically calls on all states "to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, and to settle their international disputes by peaceful means". From the beginning, we in Sinn Féin have appealed to all sides to attempt to achieve a peaceful resolution and to use the Minsk agreements as a means to pursue dialogue towards such a peaceful solution. I offered Sinn Féin's support to the ambassador of Ukraine last week when she attended a meeting of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence. I again restate my party's support. I also met with the Russian ambassador to voice our concerns and opposition to the Russian actions.

Ireland has a role to play in the international arena in search of a peaceful outcome. As a member of the UN Security Council and as a neutral nation, Ireland has the moral standing in the international community and political platforms at the UN Security Council and in the EU to actively pursue a course of action to push for a de-escalation of the current crisis in Ukraine. As a neutral nation, we must be seen to represent and to remain a voice for calm and reason, even in these difficult times, using our position at the UN and in the EU to push for a peaceful resolution to the crisis. It is important that politicians here at home do not exploit this serious crisis to attempt to challenge our neutrality by pushing us down the road towards participation in any future EU army. Ireland is and should remain a neutral country. I take this opportunity to state that I believe our neutrality should be enshrined in our Constitution.

I also record Sinn Féin's opposition to the occupation and annexation of the sovereign territory of any people by force, be that in eastern Europe or, indeed, in the West Bank. It is impossible to avoid making comparisons between the urgency of the response of the United States, of Britain and of the EU to the crisis in Ukraine and their tepid response to the ongoing human rights abuses in Palestine, to the crime of apartheid and to the active acceptance by the Trump administration of the Israeli seizure of the Golan Heights. The territorial integrity of all peoples must be respected, and not just those who serve the strategic interests of a powerful few.

I also welcome the comments from the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, who stated last week that the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of any country should be respected. China, as a close ally of Russia, is in a unique position to exercise influence and to convince the Russians to search for a solution through dialogue and consultation. We are addressing a very live issue, which is developing hour by hour and even minute by minute. Only this evening, I believe, there has been another cyberattack on Ukraine, which is ongoing as we speak. We heard today as well that Ukraine is mobilising its reserves, calling for Ukrainian citizens to leave Russia and that the country is on the cusp of a general mobilisation.

Alarmingly, a top US diplomat has reportedly cancelled a meeting with his Russian counterpart. This is all signalling, unfortunately, an increasing escalation in tensions. All attempts at a diplomatic solution must continue. Dialogue must continue. Difficulties in discerning the reality of what is happening are compounded by deliberate and misleading campaigns of disinformation. It is unfortunate that the webs of lies which were spun by the Bush administration and the British Government concerning the presence of weapons of mass destruction, WMD, to justify the invasion of Iraq have left us with a deep imprint of scepticism when we listen to the sabre-rattling of Boris Johnson. This is the same Boris Johnson who is the Prime Minister of Britain and the leader of the Conservative Party, a party which has a secret advisory committee of ultra-rich donors who enjoy complete access to the most senior members of the British Government. Some of these mega-rich donors are known to have links with the Putin regime. One member of the secret group has been revealed to be the wife of President Putin's former finance minister. Incredibly, when Boris Johnson talks about sanctions, he is also, and perhaps unwittingly, talking about members of the inner circle of the British Government.

This is not to say that we in Ireland can take a high-handed and morally-superior position in respect of financial dealings with Russian oligarchs. Ireland has long been the destination and washing ground for billions of euro of Russian oligarchs' money. As far back as 2019, Sinn Féin exposed a total of 106 shell companies registered in Ireland with Russian connections. I refer to firms with no employees, no fixed assets and paying minimal tax, if any. This is an issue that my colleague, Deputy Mairéad Farrell, has addressed here on several occasions. The failure of the financial regulatory system is shocking. It is this weak financial regulation and lax oversight that has made Ireland such an attractive location to raise funds in for Russian oligarchs linked to the regime. A total of €118 billion has been funnelled through this State to Russia. I refer to one instance of a bank part-owned by President Putin himself and another of a bank that has been described by the Russian central bank as "a special-purpose bank for serving military-industrial complex business".

Another company under sanctions of the US used a shell company registered in Ireland to raise funds in 2014 and again in 2016. The responsibility for this lies with successive governments that have presided over a financial system described as the wild west of European finance.

It is important the House sends out a clear message that we stand up for international law and humanitarian law, irrespective of whether it is in eastern Europe or the West Bank. Sinn Féin will support a cross-party motion based on the UN General Assembly Resolution of 2014 that deals with the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

I welcome the Ukrainian ambassador. The situation developing in Ukraine is very troubling and worrying for people everywhere. Certainly here in Ireland, we have had our share of conflict and violence not just for decades but for centuries. All of that comes from the notion of imperial power and what that has done. We remember 1917, the Russian Revolution and the fall of an empire at that time. The end of the First World War came on the back of that. What has happened since then, with the disintegration of the communist regimes across Europe and Russia, is that we have seen the establishment in Russia of what is, in effect, another imperialist regime. That sense of Putin and his regime is very much one where might is right at all times. That is very dangerous and troubling and is at the core of this difficulty we now have.

What happened on Monday evening was clearly a situation where Russia decided it would invade a part of Ukraine, and possibly all of Ukraine. If you invade part of a country, you have invaded all of it. The integrity of a nation includes all of its borders and territorial waters. That is the situation we see. This excuse that these two regions are somehow or other separate or are their own entity and that Russia is in there to protect them is clearly an excuse for an invasion, and all of us can see that. Our discussion is about security in Europe and that aggression is troubling not just for Ukraine. It is troubling for all the countries around Ukraine, for the entire region and Continent and, indeed, for the entire world. We cannot continue in a situation where this notion of might is right can become a dominant feature in international politics. That needs to end and needs to change. We certainly had hoped that we had left those attitudes in our colonial and imperialist past, that we had moved into a new era, and that the United Nations and the sense of co-operation and nations working together for the greater good of humanity was the way forward. That is certainly the way we intend to continue in spite of what others may do and in spite of whatever intentions Putin and his regime may have. We still need to get back down to the fact we need have the means of addressing these issues through dialogue and diplomacy. When a conflict breaks out and people are hurt, injured and killed and there is terrible dismay and mayhem, at the end of it all you go back to negotiations and talks to work out a solution.

We need to apply as much pressure as possible to work out that solution now and to put the diplomacy in place to do that. We certainly will support the Irish Government and all the other governments of Europe to try to do that. If a motion comes before the House, I am sure it will have the support of all parties to deliver that message strongly to the European Union and our colleagues in Ukraine that we stand with them in this hour of need.

I recognise that the Ukrainian ambassador is with us in the House today. I spoke earlier, as my colleague Deputy Brady alluded to, on the use of section 110 of the tax code in the IFSC and the funnelling of money. What I am speaking on now is broader and concerns security situations within Europe. One of the things that the EU Commission will have us believe is that halting climate change is its top priority. Of course, the impending climate catastrophe has to be stopped. However, in the summer of 2021, it decided for the first time since the founding of the Common Market to allocate funds directly from the EU budget to fund the military, and this decision is a disaster for the planet. Everyone knows the carbon footprint of war and weaponry is a major accelerator of climate change. Worse still, we are not talking about paltry sums. The sum involved is colossal at €49 billion. If the truth were told, there were plans to almost double that figure, but that was only prevented due to the cost of the Covid pandemic. What an utter waste of resources, when one thinks how these resources could be employed for the common good, including battling climate change. The amount of waste in the manufacture of armaments, from the production of the metals to the consumption of fossil fuels to the running of tanks or warplanes, is vast. War and armaments are the very antithesis of sustainability.

Another sinister plan was to suck in the Irish industry and SMEs to be involved in this military-industrial sector. A report from the EU defence ministers' summit in 2020 referred to Enterprise Ireland being directly involved in bringing Irish SMEs into this work. The buzzword behind developing an EU military-industrial complex and an EU army is "autonomy" but what about Irish autonomy or, another word, neutrality? The Minister needs to project that positive neutrality. It was our past neutral stance that got us elected, by the small nations of the world, to the UN Security Council. I am concerned that a security and military union is scheduled to be the next stage of EU integration.

As long ago as 2016, the then Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, called for an EU security union with the end goal of establishing an EU army. When the permanent structured co-operation, PESCO, was launched, Juncker tweeted, "Permanent Structured Cooperation is happening. I welcome the operational steps taken today by Member States to lay the foundations of a European #DefenceUnion." The European Parliament, meanwhile, called for the EU to upgrade its military to use its full potential as a world power. In December 2017, Ireland joined PESCO in the first steps of the formation of this. Membership of PESCO obliges the State to increase military spending from its current 0.3% of GDP, the lowest in the EU, to a potential 2%. We have a proud tradition of neutrality and we must reject any ties to these kinds of military alliances. The reality is we do not want to see the use of warplanes.

I, too, acknowledge the presence of and welcome the Ukrainian ambassador to our debate.

The actions of the Russian Government this week, in recognising the already occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk and moving its military forces across legally recognised international borders, are the most serious threat to European peace since the end of the Cold War. Extensive diplomatic efforts involving an array of European leaders, Macron, Scholz and Johnson among them, together with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, have sought in recent weeks to broker a peaceful outcome, and I strongly commend these efforts.

At the core of this crisis is the aim and intention of the Russian President. He is clearly enjoying the focus of international attention, but we cannot as yet be certain of what he ultimately wishes to achieve or what means he is willing to deploy to achieve that. The character of the regime led by Vladimir Putin has been clear to us all for many years. He deployed the nerve agent Novichok to poison Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, England, in 2018. This followed the killing of the Putin critic, Alexander Litvinenko, using radioactive polonium in Russia in 2006. The annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014 and the effective occupation by proxy of part of the Donbas region of Ukraine at the same time has resulted in ongoing conflict, which has already cost 14,000 lives over the past eight years.

We know what the international community is dealing with: a Russian president under whom we have witnessed the poisoning and imprisonment of his main domestic opponent Alexei Navalny, and a person who has dominated the Russian state, the Duma and its media. His vision is for a restoration of Russian hegemony over the countries of eastern Europe where the Soviet Union once held sway.

He wishes, in short, to undo the past 30 years of political history in Europe. Those who doubt that should read the words of Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov when he characterised the countries, many of which are now member states of our European Union while others are members of NATO, not as sovereign nations but as territories orphaned by the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union. Orphans, presumably, to be brought back home to mother.

The Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances in 1994 was signed by Russia and gave assurances against the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. It was on that basis that those three nations, newly independent, gave up their nuclear weapons. Ukraine at that stage was the world's third largest stockpiler of nuclear weapons. We have heard some commentary that former Soviet-dominated countries could never join NATO. The NATO-Russia Founding Act was a political agreement signed in 1997, 25 years ago. It established an agreed co-operation between an enlarged NATO and Russia and stated that countries admitted to NATO will have full rights and responsibilities of membership and, further, the door to membership will remain open to all emerging European democracies.

More fundamental to this Parliament and to Ireland, where we battled so hard to regain our national independence and to control our destiny and sovereignty, is the right of nations to make their own decisions and not to have powerful neighbours make decisions for them. The phrase we hear often now in a different context, "nothing about us without us," had its origins in central European political traditions. Too often smaller European nations were simply pawns to be directed by powerful nations and traded over by others without their involvement or consent. We thought we had put all that behind us, that small nations stand equal to larger nations, entitled to make their own decisions about any international organisation they want to belong to or not. We thought we did not have any more overarching spheres of influence where large nations determine what smaller nations can or cannot do. President Putin's speech to his nation on Monday was truly illuminating, describing the now independent nations of the former USSR as "our country" and blaming "Bolshevik" leaders, presumably former President Gorbachev, for the nation's break-up - developments President Putin clearly wishes to undo, beginning with Ukraine.

Ireland has to stand clearly and strongly with the people of Ukraine, with the principle of self-determination and the inviolability of a nation's boundaries. International law must be upheld and Ireland must be very clear in that. I have introduced legislation into this House known internationally as the Magnitsky Act. I ask that one of the actions we take is to fast-track that and enact it into the law of this State.

I join colleagues in welcoming the Ukrainian ambassador to the Chamber. Tonight we are all speaking slightly at a remove, based on facts, figures and reports in the media. Our ambassador has family and friends at home, as do all her team. We have to put them at the front of our minds. This is not something they are watching on CNN. It is people's lives and livelihoods. Kilometres away from their front door are 150,000 Russian troops who are not there to keep the peace and are certainly not there for sightseeing.

Their intentions were laid clear by President Putin earlier in the week in what Deputy Howlin correctly called an illuminating speech. It was a damn straight frightening speech. It was a window into the mind of a brutal thug of a dictator who has run roughshod over his own country and his entire sphere of influence since he came to power. He has held power and put in his proxy, Medvedev, and disseminated so much disruption and aggression throughout our Continent, harking back to the darkest days of the cold war and the soviet dictators who preceded him. It is quite clear he does not see himself as some liberal democrat or as president of an independent Russia. He sees himself as an extension of the very worst of the Soviet empire. The facts and events of these past few days have made that achingly clear to the entire world. It had been already achingly clear to many, particularly in Ukraine, over the past decade.

While I welcome the sanctions announced by the European Union and formalised today, I question whether they are enough. There is an emergency European Council meeting tomorrow. Will there be another one next week? I fear there may need to be. While these sanctions, tied with the welcome sanctions from the US Government, non-EU NATO members, the Australian Government and the Japanese Government, may go some way to stalling the aggressive ambition of Vladimir Putin, I do not think they alone will absolutely stop it. I must join with Sinn Féin colleagues opposite in criticising the impotent response from the British Government heretofore in dealing with the Russian oligarchs who use the City of London as their plaything. It was quite telling that the British Prime Minister ran from the Chamber in Westminster yesterday rather than respond directly to the very clear question from the Welsh MP, Chris Bryant about the role of Roman Abramovich.

Can the Minister confirm that the EU sanctions will also be targeted at those banks operating in occupied South Ossetia in Georgia, through which Russia is funding the proxy governments in Donetsk and Luhansk? While these welcome sanctions are targeted against regime leaders, Russian banks and Members of the Duma, sanctions must be targeted at all the actors who are ensuring that chaos reigns in eastern Ukraine. Can the Minister also confirm that the next tranche of sanctions has been already prepared? One of the most welcome things that came out of yesterday's discussions was the belated announcement by the German Government of the cancellation of the Nord Stream 2 project. It will come at a hardship cost in terms of energy provision for Germany and the wider European Union in due course but it is vitally necessary. The Minister has mentioned other things such as the staging of the Champions League final in St Petersburg and other diplomatic measures that will come down to the line. We need to be quite firm about the very clear financial, political and travel sanctions that can still be deployed. I fear they might yet need to be.

Ireland is right to be extremely worried about what is going on in eastern Ukraine, and what has been going on in the Baltic states, fellow European Union member states like Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, what is going on in Belarus, on the borders of Poland, what has been going on in Kazakhstan and what continues to go on in Georgia. We are not at a great distance. We are a €34 flight away from Kyiv. This is not the other side of the world. The Russian sphere of influence absolutely stretches to our shores. Many people raised understandable concerns about Russian naval exercises off the coast of Ireland a number of weeks ago. It actually happened that special powers were used by the Government two years ago to halt construction at the Russian embassy in Rathgar. They were not building a conservatory, a Cheann Comhairle. That was a very real issue. Two Russian diplomats were expelled from Ireland after the attacks in Salisbury in England. That was a terrorist attack on sovereign British soil. We saw the cyber-attack that crippled our health system in August; no doubt if it was not the Russian State it was non-state actors who have the protection of the Russian Government. Russia Today employed eight people in the State not so long ago.

They were based at the Digital Hub, an entity financed by the Irish Government. We have skin in the game. There are 150 Irish citizens in Ukraine. So many surrogates in Ukraine give birth to Irish children. There are so many Irish prospective parents at their wits’ end. These are people who are prepared to travel to Poland and walk to Ukraine to protect their children.

Members opposite avidly talk about neutrality, but there are occasions when we have to realise we cannot stand ourselves alone. While I fundamentally welcome the comments of Sinn Féin Deputies in support of UN resolutions and sanctions, why have Sinn Féin MEPs abstained countless times in votes in the European Parliament on proposals to impose sanctions on Russia? After the invasion in 2014, why was it that Sinn Féin MEPs sat in a European Parliament political group with Irish MEPs who defended the thug who is Vladimir Putin? Sinn Féin should not lecture the Government from a height. It should not lecture the State from a height. It has enough in this area. Welcoming the actions of the Chinese Government, given the plight of the Uyghur people and what is going on in Hong Kong, is certainly something-----

Maybe the Deputy should have listened to what I said.

-----but I would call on Deputy Brady to reflect on it.

Maybe the Deputy should listen to what I said instead of trying to mislead the House.

I heard what the Deputy said.

He tried to mislead.

I heard what he said and am responding directly to his comments.

The Deputy is not; he is trying to mislead. He is being disingenuous.

I did not interrupt the Deputy when he was speaking.

Deputies in this House have talked about building an anti-war coalition. Does one know what happens to anti-war protesters on the streets of Moscow? They get locked up and are never heard from again. It is an utter fantasy that we can grasp our hands and pretend this does not involve us, that we can keep our mind out of it and that it is a matter of two equal aggressors. This is not about two equal aggressors. I am referring to the nonsense about NATO expansion. Independent, sovereign states that spent recent decades with an aggressor to their east sought EU and NATO membership for protection. This was not some imperialist plot from Washington, which certain Deputies who are not even in the Chamber would have us believe; it was the desperate decision of states that are being threatened, one of which has been invaded, mere kilometres from our shores. We have to wake up to the reality. Having an alarm at home does not make you aggressive or militaristic; it is about protecting your family. Protecting citizens is a responsibility of all governments. One cannot hide behind a convenient fig leaf.

We had a fundamental debate last week in the Chamber about the future of our Defence Forces. I never want to see members of the Defence Forces put in harm’s way but I do want to see them equipped, paid and protected in carrying out their foremost duty, which is to protect the State. That is why our defence spending will increase. The constant references to the desire for an EU army denigrates the debate when we are talking about fundamental security and co-operation. It may be Ukraine today but it could be Estonia, Lithuania or Latvia tomorrow. The Estonian people had their entire social welfare system shut down for three days in August due to cyberattacks from Russia. Therefore, I do not buy the line that we cannot co-operate and that we do not have a fundamental duty and responsibility, as an EU member state, to co-operate with other like-minded countries. These are our allies. We are not alone in the world.

Let me return to the situation at hand. We are at an extremely perilous point. We are dealing with a country whose population is the same size as that of Nigeria, whose economy is the same size as that of Italy and whose military is the same size, or a little smaller, than that of France. The difference is that it is prepared to ruin its economy, jeopardise its population and use its military. The western world has a duty and responsibility to act. There are three options on the table. The third, I hope, will never be availed of because the consequences are so grave. We need to see continuing, expansive, fundamental sanctions. We also need to see a continued diplomatic effort, but let us not be fools regarding the state we are negotiating with. We need to ensure a broadening alliance that includes the EU, US, Australia, Japan, non-EU NATO member states and any other country that believes in democracy. The speech by the Kenyan foreign minister at the UN Security Council is one we should all refer to. There are dark days ahead and the worst-case scenario does not bear thinking about. We are talking about a military escalation that has not been seen since the Balkan wars. It could be far greater than that. We could see hordes of refugees flooding into the European Union, fleeing for their lives. There could be mass murder, mass devastation, energy stoppages and conflict of the most worrying level seen this century, or probably for 75 years.

This is a very sombre debate. As I stated, it is easy for us to remove ourselves, talk about the figures and refer to the headlines and highlights. We do not need to demonstrate and talk about our sovereignty to the Ukrainian people. We need to empathise with the Ukrainian people, who are represented here by their ambassador, and with her family members and friends. Tomorrow morning, we will wake up not knowing what Vladimir Putin has in mind for them and their children.

Cuirim céad míle fáilte roimh an ambassador. Sadly, it would appear that in 2022 we still have old men dreaming up new wars for younger men to die in. We have all watched with growing unease the increase in the military build-up along the border of Ukraine and Russia and what has been a very uneven and fraught relationship between the two states since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. We watched events in this region in 2013 and 2014 and we have seen action, reaction and sanctions. We have seen how those with the least ability to protect themselves, the ordinary citizens, suffered the direct consequences of others’ actions and decisions — neighbours’ decisions. The collective psyche of this country continues to be affected by its past, as evidenced in the statements before the current ones in the House. Our instinct, because we have never invaded and colonised another country, is to align ourselves with those regarded as the smaller dog in the fight, those considered oppressed. I believe this is one reason so many Ukrainians now call Ireland home. Ukraine, while rich in mineral resources, in addition to natural gas and grain that it exports, has a quite poor economy. However, it is growing. Ukraine’s people are facing the genuine prospect of invasion and a resulting major conflict with the potential to expand beyond their borders and region. Contrast their position with the strength of neighbouring Russia.

I will return to an issue Deputy Mairéad Farrell referred to earlier, one she raised in September 2020 and that was reported in the Irish Examiner. Billions of euro have been funnelled to Russian firms from shell companies based in Ireland. Section 110 companies based in the IFSC raised funds for some of Russia’s most important, state-backed and oligarchically controlled companies, which were previously subject to economic sanctions and accused of criminal activity. We need to know if this is still the case. It needs to be clarified. Are the firms still operating here? What is their tax status? To what extent do they avail of tax breaks here?

The situation in Ukraine has the potential for devastating conflict, conflict that must be avoided. Despite the global armaments industry, worth trillions of euro, it is incumbent on all countries to settle international disputes by peaceful means. In this case, the Minsk agreement must survive as the basis for a permanent and peaceful solution. Quite simply, Russia must not invade Ukraine.

I welcome the Ukrainian ambassador. I am happy to tell the Ukrainians who have made Ireland their home that my party stands in full solidarity with them regarding the territorial integrity of their homeland according the principles of the UN resolution adopted in March 2014. We respect their democracy and the will of Ukrainian citizens. As has been said, we know what it is like to live next door to a bullying neighbour and to have to feel its boot on your neck.

Like many, I am concerned about the potential for information or, rather, disinformation to become a weapon of mass destruction in its own right.

Indeed, the Ukrainians have also asked that this warmongering talk be toned down. I remember the "sexing up", as it was referred to at the time, that led to the ratcheting up of tensions and the declaration of an illegal war that unleashed pure hell on Iraq, bringing devastation to its people and the region. Millions of them are still displaced in another generation. Today, they are among the people who are piling into boats to make the treacherous crossing to fortress Europe, where the EU shows its own treachery by declaring Libya a zone of safe return. The barstool soldiers and armchair generals, of whom there are many here, who share their expertise on the situation between the pints in fact know very little about the situation and the realities of war. There is not a word about Yemen when we tip-toe around Saudi Arabia. When Saudi Arabia is not starving and bombarding children and babies in Yemen, it is taking a plastic bag and a chainsaw to an outspoken journalist. We are most anxious that the State uses its position on the UN Security Council to do everything possible to de-escalate tensions and prevent military action or incursions. We must also hit Putin and his oligarchs where it hurts, right in the International Financial Services Centre, IFSC. I know that one cannot butterfly or lollipop one's way out of a war. We should remember that we are a neutral country. We must use that neutrality to make sure that dialogue does not break down and that sense and peace prevail.

I wish to begin by welcoming the Ukrainian ambassador and expressing our deepest solidarity, on behalf of the Social Democrats and the people of Dublin Central who I represent, with the ambassador and the Ukrainian people today. I cannot imagine what it is like to have the Russian Federation acting like a bully and a thug at the border, threatening violence on an immense scale. We stand in full solidarity with the Ukrainian people today. That is what is happening. The Russian Federation is behaving like a bully and a thug. We have seen that on a relatively small scale in comparison with what the people of Ukraine are experiencing, in incursions into our airspace over the last number of years and the tracking of undersea fibre-optic cables. We have seen what happened to our neighbours in the chemical terrorist attack in Salisbury. This is a mafia that is designed to upset global order and is doing that in a multitude of different ways. It is high time that the people on the global stage came together in solidarity to say: "no more".

However, I do want to caution against the inevitability of war in terms of what the Irish response can, and should, only be. We have an important role to play as a neutral country that has never invaded any country, as a member of the Security Council and as a neutral actor. There is a difference between the rhetoric of conflict coming from the British Tory Government that seems to be posturing for conflict and is bullish in how it presents itself and has been for the last few months, and the behaviour of others in the EU, such as the French President, Mr. Macron, who are demonstrating other forms of leadership and are seeking diplomatic solutions. That is what we need to be doing. Right up until the very last moment, we need to be looking for diplomatic outcomes. Dialogue must be at the very forefront of what we do and all the steps we take.

Difficult questions remain in respect of our response and what we do, now that these bullies and thugs have encroached upon a sovereign European nation. The difficult questions relate to our own complicity both as a European nation and as the Irish nation. There are two challenging aspects of it. The first is the idea of the need for unified sanctions. The sanctions seem to be targeted at the Duma and at Putin's allies. They need to be tough and hard. I note that the Ukrainian Foreign Minister has called for sanctions. I believe he stated that we need to hit them, hit them hard and hit them now. That needs to be the approach. There seems to be a belief both from the US and the EU that there can be a crescendo effect to sanctions. The idea is that as the Russian Federation moves into independent territories, the sanctions increase a bit more, and if the Russian Federation takes more steps, the sanctions increase even further. That approach will cost lives. If there are going to be sanctions, they need to be targeted. Sanctions must be fast, swift, prompt and severe. We need to make the Russian Federation, and those who sustain it and prop up Putin, the pariahs of old. We need to target them and hit them really hard.

The situation poses difficult questions for us. Fintan O'Toole's article in The Irish Times yesterday stated that €118 billion was funnelled from the IFSC to entities linked to the regime of Vladimir Putin. There are genuine questions as to our own complicity in this in facilitating these shell companies to funnel money back into the regime. There was talk of the Russian Federation's economy being the same size as Italy's. That is in real terms. We also know that the economy is far more vast than that and is built up by a network of oligarchs who fund these excursions and keep this power in place. The only way we can challenge them is by hitting them where it hurts, which is in their pockets and in their access to power and influence. We point to London too often when we talk about Russian money. We cannot separate from our own complicity. If they pull out of Russia, they are going to look to the IFSC, where they manipulate our own legal structures. We need to close those loopholes. I should think everyone believes we need to close them.

There is also the point that we are complicit by our dependence on fossil fuels. One of the most welcome moves yesterday was Germany's decision to close down the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Putin knows that Russia has Europe by the clutches because of our dependency on its gas and oil. When previous wars happened, one of the things that happened was a ratcheting up of industrialisation and military industrialisation and the spend that goes with it. Now there is an opportunity to see that we have a crisis of climate and have complicity when it comes to empowering the Russian Federation. As we move away from our dependency on fossil fuels, including gas and oil, we remove the power that this regime has over Europe. We cannot seek to replace that by looking for the same two fossil fuels elsewhere. The response of the EU must be investing in clean energy and removing ourselves from the dependency on Russia's gas, oil and coal. I appreciate that in Ireland we are not as dependent as others are, but we are part of a European network. That needs to be taken away from Russia. I will conclude by stating that there still must be a space for diplomacy. Our response must be to remember who we are and to strive, at all points, to avoid a conflict that will cost millions of lives. Seeking diplomatic solutions must be our only approach.

I wish to acknowledge the presence of the Ukrainian ambassador to Ireland and to express the solidarity of the Fianna Fáil party with her and her people at this time, as I am sure the Minister of State has done already. It has come to pass, after months of speculation, that Russia has moved on Ukraine. As we were warned all along, a pretext was engineered to give cover to Russia to recognise two breakaway regions, Donetsk and Luhansk, as independent states and to send in troops to be so-called peacekeepers. There was increased shelling in the area and a plea for intervention by the pro-Russian leaders of both regions. That was the pretext. We must assume that this is just the start of it and that a full-scale invasion and annexation of Ukraine is still a real possibility. This is a serious violation of international law. It is an attack on the territorial integrity of Ukraine and it casts aside the Minsk agreements.

We need to examine what Russia has been up to immediately prior to the events of this week and also in recent years. They say that the first casualty of war is the truth. The Russians are certainly masters of propaganda. In the past few weeks, Russia has been rubbishing claims that it was about to invade Ukraine. It even accused western countries of being warmongers and of being the aggressor in respect of these tensions. What are we to make of these statements now? What has Russia been doing in recent years? It annexed Crimea in 2014. It gave its backing to the Lukashenko regime in Belarus, which has engaged in all sorts of hostile acts against the EU, and tramples on fundamental rights. In 2018, there was the novichok nerve attack in Salisbury. We must also look at how the Opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, has been treated. Russia is closely linked to cyberattacks on several EU countries.

In a debate in the Dáil on 26 June 2019, the then leader of the Opposition and current Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, stated:

Yet again there have been attempts by one country to promote division, undermine the European Union and support extremists, primarily on the right but also on the left in some countries.

He was, of course, referring to Russia, which utilised social networking platforms to peddle misinformation and engage in election interference, or information manipulation, as it were.

Russia considers the spread of liberal democratic values to be its biggest threat and has a major policy objective of undermining the EU. We all need to be aware of this. The stark reality is that just 6% of the world's population live in fully fledged democracies and that democracy is stagnant or in decline in many countries. This is something of which we need to be conscious, as well as the role Russia is playing in this regard.

Ireland has clearly stated that we fully support Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity and its right to choose its own foreign and security policy, and rightly so. It certainly seems negotiation and diplomacy in this case have failed, at least so far. I think in particular of the interventions by the French President, Emmanuel Macron, and the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, through the Normandy process. Ireland should continue to press for a de-escalation and a diplomatic solution through our participation on the UN Security Council and at European Council meetings. This is our role in international affairs.

Of course, there must be sanctions too. I welcome the sanctions proposed by the EU to date. They are proportionate, but an increased package of sanctions on the Russian economy and individuals should also be imposed in the event of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. These sanctions will impact on the Irish economy and the EU economy as a whole; let us make no mistake about that. It is significant that Germany has just cancelled the Nord Stream 2 gas project in response. I know work is continuing on assessing the exposure of the Irish economy in the context of these sanctions. They will hurt certain sectors and energy prices are sure to rise, but we have no choice. We have to do the right thing. We have to show solidarity and ask the question, "What price democracy?". I welcome the fact the EU has given a financial package to Ukraine of €1.2 billion. Again, that is a show of solidarity by Europe and the EU in respect of our European neighbour.

At the end of the day, as other speakers have stated, what we are looking at here is the potential for massive loss of life in the event of a full-scale invasion. As the Minister stated earlier, there has been loss of life already. That must be our primary concern. Loss of life on the scale that would come about in the event of a full-scale invasion must be avoided. War is not nice - far from it. I reiterate the need to show solidarity with our Ukrainian neighbours at this time.

I welcome the Ukrainian ambassador to the Chamber. We as politicians in this House stand in full solidarity with her country. This building and its roof know better than any other place that every country has a full and unequivocal right to independence and not to be interfered with by any outside nation. We stand in full solidarity with the people of Ukraine, both tonight and in the days and weeks that will follow.

Before I came to the Chamber, I was flicking through television news channels and saw footage of Druzhkivka, a town in eastern Ukraine where children in school No. 1 Druzhkivka were being taken by their teachers from their classrooms and down a corridor into a bomb shelter as a drill exercise. They used to have to do that drill exercise every few years; now it has become a feature of daily life in the school. These are children of five or six years of age, probably in the equivalent of junior infants or senior infants. I abhor what I saw on the news tonight.

Vladimir Putin is the thug of the international schoolyard of geopolitics. He is not bringing independence or peace; he is bringing war, death and suffering to these poor people, including children, in Druzhkivka and other small towns and villages in Ukraine. The last time we saw something like this happen in Europe, eyes turned the other way and things were allowed to happen. I am a lover of history and reading history books. We know how this happened and manifested itself in the 1930s and 1940s. It certainly did not stop in the neighbouring nations to Germany; they went and they went again. Vladimir Putin is hell-bent on restoring the old imperial Russia. He very much has his eyes on the nations that lie to the west of its international boundaries.

In 2002, I had the great honour of studying in the Czech Republic while it was on its way to acceding to the European Union. I studied central European studies and post-communism studies at Palacký University Olomouc. The people of that country, those of Ukraine and those of central and eastern Europe have democratically chosen a pathway in recent years that involves looking westwards, looking towards the European Union and, for some nations, looking towards NATO. That has to be respected. They certainly did not choose to see Russian tanks or insurgents. They did not choose to have Russian military troops taking off their patches, putting on balaclavas and pretending they are some sort of happy peace-keeping group coming in. They are not. They are an invading force and the nations of Europe and the world need to react as such.

Through the years, all bullies become emboldened and push the boundaries more if there is a limp attitude towards them. I have seen that limp attitude in recent weeks. As we have turned on the television night after night, we have seen the European Union say it will wait and see what happens next; it will wait for Russia's next move; and it will wait to see if it invades further. We even saw such an attitude in this country when we actually thanked the Russian ambassador for Russia carrying out ballistic test exercises beyond our exclusive economic zone. We thanked him. That is ludicrous. We should be telling him where to go; not thanking him for moving further out with his vessels. We have also seen it from Sinn Féin. In 2015, when a Russian presence first began moving into Ukraine, there were sanctions at stake in the European Parliament but the Sinn Féin MEPs voted against those sanctions. It is limp attitude after limp attitude. That has only served to embolden Vladimir Putin to the point where tanks and troops are now crossing the border into other nations. Many actors had a part to play in how we have reached this stage.

I wish to mention Belarus. At the moment, it is a puppet state with a dictator president. Like many Members of the House, I have adopted a Belarusian political prisoner. His name is Siarhei Hatskevich. I want that on the record of the House. He is 17 years of age. He should be completing his final state examinations in high school this year. Instead, he is spending his second year in prison. He has missed the funerals of his father, his grandfather and his aunt. A year ago, there were 180 Belarusian prisoners. There are now 283. These are people who were holding placards on the street; they are not people who took up guns and balaclavas to try to bring some moral authority to their streets. These are people who are standing up for fundamental rights. The political prisoner who was adopted by my colleague Deputy Haughey died in custody in suspicious circumstances. We need to stand up time and again. Let there be no more limp attitudes from Ireland, the European Union or western nations when it comes to Russian aggression.

I received an email from Iryna Zaritska, a Ukrainian national living in my community. She stated that the Ukrainian nation is very grateful to both the Irish people and Europe for amassing support and is against any military conflicts. She stated that all Ukraine wants is to be a free, independent and strong European state. People want to live in their own land, admire their history and speak their language.

I too welcome the ambassador to the House. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. We are in danger of living through a very expensive lesson in history if we do not have a strong and unified approach to the latest happenings in Ukraine. My thoughts and prayers are with all Ukrainian citizens, given the recent escalated military tensions.

Russia is in breach of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262 which clearly recognises the territorial integrity of Ukraine. There must be consequences. We cannot have a situation like the one that exists in Palestine, where the Government of Israel is in breach of almost 50 UN resolutions. Almost half of the country-specific resolutions have related to Israel. What is good for the goose must be good for the gander.

Ireland knows enough about the aggression of bigger states against smaller nations. It is about time the interests of smaller nations were taken seriously. Last month, our waters were to be used for war games in a "Mine is bigger than yours; what are you going to do about it?" manner. It was unreal. My colleague an Teachta Brady met the Russian ambassador to convey our views on such shenanigans. This is what real leadership looks like. All sides must work to de-escalate tension. The fishermen and fisherwomen of Ireland showed more leadership than the Government did. The Government must use diplomatic channels to ensure there is a peaceful resolution to what is a very tense situation.

I note that the EU has been very strong in respect of the repercussions for Russia. If Russia carries out military actions on Ukrainian territory, talk must be followed by action. The truth is often the first victim of any conflict. We must insist on balanced reporting that is backed up by facts and not by speculation.

Ordinary people are scared about the knock-on effects in Ireland. Indeed, I overheard two schoolchildren on the Luas the other day wondering when Russia would invade us. Many people have not even thought about how this sabre-rattling will affect fuel and food prices. We all know that fuel and food poverty have increased significantly. The Government must cancel or postpone the proposed carbon tax rises. People cannot take much more of this Government and it is time to act now.

I also welcome the Ukrainian ambassador to the Chamber. I think it is only right that she is here today as we discuss this issue. We have to state plainly that Vladimir Putin is in breach of international law. I see him, in a straightforward way, as the equivalent of the local drug dealer who gets away with burning down people’s houses as leverage. The question is whether he is going to burn down the whole street or is anyone going to bring him to book. That is where we are at this point in time. I have heard commentators say that he is not so much strategic as tactical and is determining this on a blow-by-blow basis. We are all in the position of fearing the worst but hoping for the best. We want to see peace. All engagements that are necessary from the point of view of bringing about a diplomatic solution have to be done.

The EU and the western powers must engage and have to impose sanctions. This State has to look at itself because we must be clear. Many people have suggested that the only way one is going to hurt this guy, and the oligarchs who surround him, is by hurting him in the pocket. We cannot have the case where we have had €118 billion funnelled through this State to Russia in the past number of years through the IFSC, with multiple devices and the use of shell companies. That is not on in any way, shape, or form. We know what we cannot and can do, so we have to do that piece. We have to be on the positive side in this.

It would be remiss of me not to bring up an issue that has been brought to my attention by a constituent from County Louth, Brendan Murphy, who is in Ukraine at this point in time with his family. He has been given an instruction by the ambassador that it is a very dangerous situation. I feel for everybody who is there. Mr. Murphy states that he is not enabled to leave the state or country to come directly here because there are visa issues. I have brought this case up previously but I believe this is one, given the circumstances that we currently have, where we just have to find a solution.

He was in touch with me as well. He mentioned the Deputy and we are following this matter up. He said he had been in touch with the Deputy.

In fairness all we need is a solution on this.

Up to 14,000 Ukrainians have died since 2014. We need to do everything to avoid a war but Vladimir Putin is the guy who is in the wrong and we need to stand up to him. There is complete support here if we can come up with a motion that will just state that this State stands solidly and soundly with the Ukrainian people and against what is basically the war criminality of Vladimir Putin.

We move now to Deputies Boyd Barrett and Barry who are sharing their time.

Vladimir Putin is a thug, an autocrat, a despot and a warmonger. His military aggression in Ukraine is completely unacceptable and he should get his troops out. There is no doubt about that and he should be roundly condemned. This is not new for Putin or the Russian state. It has a long history of treating its neighbouring countries as a prison house. In fact, famously, tsarist Russia was the prisonhouse of nations and denied independence and self-determination to those nations.

More recently we have seen the Russians commit horrors in Afghanistan, there was a horrendous war in Chechnya and we saw the Russian-dominated version of NATO sending troops into Kazakhstan to help the Kazakhstan Government put down a workers’ revolt against rising energy prices.

All or most of the people who are condemning what Putin is now doing never condemned what he did in Chechnya and Kazakhstan. They are condemning what he is doing in Ukraine but not those things. They are selective in their standards when it comes to Russian warmongering and, indeed, as many people have pointed out, many of the nations condemning him for what he is doing now are more than willing to launder Russian oligarch money in the IFSC or in the City of London.

We are, therefore, not going to go along with the one-sided double standards that have been deployed by many of the speakers in this debate because the people of Ukraine have the right to self-determination and territorial integrity. Putin should get out. To pretend that NATO has no responsibility for this and that they are somehow the good guys in all of this situation is to be utterly dishonest. NATO has relentlessly expanded eastwards since the end of the Cold War, recruiting and moving 800 km eastwards and doing military exercises on an annual basis on the Russian border. The Defender Europe exercises, which take place every year, involved 28,000 troops last year, including naval military exercises in the Black Sea. That is also militarism. That is military provocation. These are two big military political blocs vying for spheres of influence. My very strong advice to the people of Ukraine, from a country that is militarily neutral and that established itself as a State in opposition to the disaster of the First World War and to the oppression of empires, is not to align itself with NATO because it is a warmongering military alliance that is also headed up by military thugs.

Have we forgotten what the United States did in Iraq? We have the same justifications there. Saddam Hussein was a dictator, absolutely. He was a brutal murderer of his own population. He was somebody who was willing to attack neighbouring countries. All of this is true. That was used by the United States to launch a war which was a disaster with 1 million people killed. It was an utter disaster for the Middle East. Does the hypocrisy of the United States continue? It absolutely does. As we speak, it is arming the Saudi regime, a brutal dictatorship, to the teeth, as it conducts a war in Yemen where tens of thousands of people are being killed.

We raise as an alternative to the banner of warmongering, and as an alternative to siding either with the thug that is Putin or the military-aggressive alliance which is NATO, the banner of internationalism and of opposition to war. War or militarism will not solve the very dangerous conflict in Ukraine. We need to oppose war and to build a movement of international solidarity against warmongering, whether it is from the thug Putin or from the NATO-US-dominated military alliance.

The same forces that gave the world a climate crisis and put profit before people in a pandemic - big corporations, oligarchs, the arms industry, dictators and right-wing politicians - are now bringing us the NATO-Russia stand-off. A curse on both of their houses, on NATO, which has expanded eastwards towards the Russian border by 800 km since 1990, and on the Putin regime which sent tanks over the Ukrainian border this week. NATO should withdraw from eastern Europe and Russian troops should be returned to barracks. These forces offer nothing to the ordinary working people of Ukraine, Russia or the world.

In Russia, patients recovering from serious illnesses are being turfed out of hospitals to make way for refugees. In Ukraine, $15 billion has left the country as big business flees to protect profits, leaving the people to face the threat of tanks. Here, working people face the scourge of inflation and another surge in energy prices.

To its shame, the Irish Government has sided politically with NATO, following in the footsteps of the Home Rule politicians who sided with British imperialism against the Kaiser more than 100 years ago. If this escalates, we need an international anti-war movement and action by workers to prevent the movement of troops and weapons. Last, but far from least, we need an international socialist alternative to war and to the system of capitalism and imperialism which sustains and promotes it.

I welcome the ambassador from Ukraine. The world is in a very difficult position and, clearly, we all have worries about war breaking out and families being destroyed and obliterated from the face of the earth. It is unacceptable to all of us. The Irish Government, the European Union, the United Kingdom and America are all speaking with one voice here - there must be an end to this unacceptable aggression. It will have important and far-reaching effects on the world and, indeed, on the economy here. I worry about the increase there is likely to be in energy costs and the impact that will have on the world economy, as well as the fact that interest rates are likely to go up sooner rather than later. The great uncertainty at present is absolutely unacceptable. The European Union knows well what the deficit may be in our energy supply. We have to make every effort. I presume that reassurances have been given to all the countries in Europe, Germany in particular, about an alternative supply of energy should the worst come to the worst.

One thing that concerns me is that when the Russians sent their warships adjacent to Irish waters recently it pointed to the serious deficit that exists in our military and defence capacity. I fully support remaining neutral and retaining our neutrality and independence from all blocs, including NATO, and other forces, but we must have the appropriate and proper method to defend our country if a country invades our airspace or our waters to use it as a base for attacks on other countries that may be part of other alliances. We must ensure in respect of the European Union that there is not a vector of attack, as it was described in one newspaper, where weaknesses can be strategically exposed and taken advantage of. I know it is a different debate, but we must find the money and resources to ensure that we are fully and properly equipped to defend our airspace and waters in situations that might probably arise now.

Having listened to people talking about America and politicians, I can say one thing. Thank God for Joe Biden, when one looks at what Trump has gone on the record as saying in the New York Times, which I have just read. He said that Putin was very savvy and he was a genius by doing what he is doing and going into Ukraine. When one talks about right-wing politicians, there is nobody more right wing than him that I am aware of. We have to ensure that common sense and decency prevail. What I very much like in the response of Joe Biden is the return to the involvement or concern that the United States has for the future of Europe and for our security. I welcome the contacts he has had. He has strong contacts with all the governments and particularly with the European Union. We should all say in one united voice that Putin must withdraw and Ukraine must be allowed to decide, as it has, its own sovereignty and government. Our support for its sovereignty, its territorial integrity and its right to choose its foreign and security policy path must be unwavering.

Finally, a Cheann Comhairle, I am a member of the Russian-Irish inter-parliamentary friendship group and we have met with the ambassador, Yuriy Filatov, a number of times over the last few years. We have always found him prepared to listen to what we say. However, the issue is that our relationships as parliamentarians cannot proceed unless and until there is a withdrawal. That is my personal view, and I am glad to see you hopefully agreeing that we cannot further our relationship as parliamentarians. I refer briefly to Anton Morozov, the former chairman of that group from the State Duma in Russia. We met him and he attended here. Unfortunately, however, that is the reality. That is one way we can show our view as parliamentarians, and, hopefully, it will be the view of the Oireachtas. We stand by Ukraine and we stand by world peace, not by dictatorship now or ever.

I, too, welcome the ambassador and her colleagues. These must be very difficult days for her, her family and her country. It is respectful and good of her to be here with us this evening.

As we reflect on how we got to where we are and where we may be in the coming days, hard questions need to be asked of ourselves as a country and of the EU. Since 2015, there has been a pathway leading to where we are now. In the last few weeks, in particular, I have been struck by how relatively irrelevant the EU institutions seemed to be, as President Macron, Chancellor Scholz, President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken all tried, and I must give them credit for having made that effort, to bring sense to this and try to get us away from the brink. However, President von der Leyen and Mr. Borrell were quite absent in terms of taking initiatives or pushing forward an EU agenda, reliance or ambition in regard to the security of Ukraine. That is not good. Yes, I acknowledge there is a package of aid approved, but the notion is that it will then wait for an emergency summit, which has been called for tomorrow evening. It is well past the time for having an emergency summit to discuss sanctions.

The sanctions announced today are relatively minor. The defence given is that they are minor in the context that there will be more. When will there be more? What more action do we need to know what the intent of the Russian President is? In addition, the sanctions target MPs in the Russian State Duma, or whatever the equivalent is. They do not target the president himself. I am sure there is a logic to or a reason for that, but it is like telling every backbencher in this House that he or she is a target and the Government is not. Those who make and enact the decisions are let away. That is a flavour of it, and it is a flavour of my frustration. The entire basis of the European Union is that we would not go back to where we were in World War Two. It is the foundation on which everything it has done is based, yet here we are with a very serious situation once again on the Continent and the EU is behind the curve. The EU has been behind the curve in terms of proactivity and dealing with this.

Second, we all have to ask hard questions as to why the EU has become so dependent on Russia for energy since 2015. That is why ordinary people will have to pay the price of this in the coming hours and days in fuel and fertiliser costs, on top of so many other costs. We must ask ourselves the hard questions there too. Deputy O'Dowd was right when he referred to former President Trump, who cheerled Vladimir Putin throughout his term. While that cheerleading was happening, it appeared that the Russian forces and Russian arrogance were building. President Putin was getting more and more trenchant in his views of where Russia should go, yet there was very little opposition. Very little effort was made to try to stop him, to try to put a halt to his ambition and to try to stop the situation that we have arising today.

Hard questions have to be asked and we have to learn the lessons from that. It is little consolation to the people of Ukraine who are facing such an uncertain time and uncertain future. We also have to get serious about sanctions and stop faffing around, tinkering at the edges. We are either serious or we are not. That includes hard calls to be made in this country too, regarding banking and financial arrangements. I know the Minister of State is engaged in the case, but I was struck by the small matters that make such a difference with regard to visa participation.

I acknowledge the work done by the Minister and the Department of Foreign Affairs on surrogacy to try to ease the burden. There are other things that could also be done to assist our citizens there.

We have to hope that tomorrow night's summit presents us with a new European Union attitude and determination based on strong action rather than hope. Rather than words and raps on the knuckles we hope it is based on something that means something and will change what may be an inevitable course. The Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs and the Taoiseach need to tell the summit that 100 years on, a small republic crafted and created in opposition to a superpower of the day would stand up for other small republics and for the national aspirations of others, and would defend those aspirations, borders and people in the same way we looked to other countries throughout the world to defend us 100 years ago. We are in the European Union but we are Irish and we have a proud history of standing up to oppressors. Let us make it relevant to the people of Ukraine today.

I acknowledge the presence of the ambassador and I welcome her. For weeks we have seen the geopolitical battle between NATO and Russia being played out and the ordinary people of Ukraine getting caught in the middle. It has received prime coverage from almost all Irish media. On Monday night came the news from the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, that Russia had formally announced recognition of the two breakaway republics of Luhansk and Donetsk. Until then we had been watching the slow demise of the Minsk II agreement. This agreement was mediated with great effort and diplomacy by France and Germany. They brought all of the parties to the table. They developed a resolution that gave hope for peace and stability in the region and the reintegration of the breakaway republics back into Ukraine.

Monday's announcement marked the death of the Minsk II agreement. Now we seem further than ever away from that hope for peace and stability. The reality is that NATO and its EU members will make sufficient financial gains from all of this instability. The military-industrial complex has seen a steady increase in the value of its stocks and shares since the crisis began. Millions upon millions worth of lethal arms produced in Europe are flooding into Ukraine. Much of this will end up in the hands of far-right paramilitaries who have no desire for peace.

Recently An Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, carried out a trade mission to Saudi Arabia. It should be noted the Saudi Arabian Government is one of the biggest clients for European arms, with EU arms purchased by Saudi Arabia frequently ending up in war-torn regions. The brutal war that has been prosecuted on the Yemeni people by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is too often forgotten by the EU. Tens of thousands of Yemeni men, women and children have been killed or maimed by bombs and bullets supplied by EU governments. Where is the outcry against Saudi Arabia? Where are the sanctions and arms embargoes? How do arms sales to Saudi Arabia help EU defence and security? They do not.

We need to see the EU follow the example set by the UN in the 1970s in the fight against apartheid. Ireland needs to be a leading voice in the EU for an urgent arms embargo on the apartheid state of Israel. Last week, unarmed 19 year old Nehad Barghouti was shot dead at a protest by the Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank. Only last night we heard of a 14-year-old child being murdered by Israeli apartheid occupation forces. The soldiers stripped the child naked and prevented ambulances from reaching him, letting him die on a pavement in the West Bank. Between 2015 and 2020 Germany exported more than €1 billion worth of arms to Israel and Italy exported more than €300 million worth of arms to Israel. Last year, Israel's 11 day military campaign killed at least 253 people, including 66 children in Gaza. How many of these 253 men, women and children were killed by EU weapons? How long will the EU stay silent while EU member states make large profits selling weapons to this apartheid state?

When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 we saw a suite of sanctions and embargoes on Russia. Our view on sanctions is very à la carte. To quote the Minister, Deputy Coveney, in June 2021 he said the boycott of Israeli goods would be counter-productive. This month, the Minister said it is time for the EU to introduce sanctions against Russia. It is all à la carte. How can it be claimed that Ireland is a neutral state when it stands by and watches Palestine burn while Ireland calls for the introduction of sanctions on Russia? When the Minister says "counter-productive" does he mean counter-productive for the EU arms industry and the profit margins? Let us call Israel out for what it is. It is an apartheid state.

I thank the Minister, Deputy Coveney, for his opening statement. I welcome the Ukrainian ambassador, H.E. Larysa Gerasko, and her wonderful team to the Chamber. I hope they feel welcome because they certainly are. My views on the Ukrainian-Russian conflict and crisis are well-known at this stage from previous contributions on Leaders' Questions prior to and since Christmas and at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence. There is no point in me repeating what I have already said. Unfortunately, my concerns have come to light and we are now most likely looking at the largest conflict in Europe since the Second World War about to break out. Coupled with that will be the largest humanitarian catastrophe in living memory on this continent. Unfortunately, this seems to be the direction of travel at present.

I will not use my time to retrace my steps. I will focus on two groups of Irish people who regularly get forgotten and who are in Ukraine at present. The first group is our wonderful team at the Department of Foreign Affairs who were in the embassy in Kyiv. They have been there for nine months, since the embassy opened last June. I pass on my respect and admiration to the ambassador, Therese Healy, and her team. It was absolutely the correct decision for our embassy to remain on location with the other EU 27 member states rather than to withdraw. It is exactly the way it should have been. However, I am not convinced we have made the optimum security and safety arrangements for the protection of the team there. I would be grateful to hear the thoughts of the Minister of State in this regard.

Many of the foreign embassies in Dublin have a very small security detachment on location to protect the premises and the people and to protect secure communications and sensitive documentation. This is entirely their prerogative. After all, it is their sovereign national territory. The Defence Forces and the Department of Foreign Affairs have an excellent relationship. They even share the same Minister at this stage. The Defence Forces and the Department of Foreign Affairs have deployed together in the past, to the embassy in Freetown, Sierra Leone and in Nigeria. It is something that should be considered in this instance because of the hostile nature of where they are based. What a very small discreet Defence Forces team could bring to the table is it could deploy with armoured Toyota land cruisers rather than the soft skin vehicles there at present. It could also provide security and contingency planning for evacuation. Most important, it could provide medical backup in the event of things going wrong. We have seen the amount of jamming and cyberattacks at present. It could provide secure communications back to Iveagh House or Defence Forces headquarters. This is something that should be considered if it has not been already. I will leave that in the capable hands of the Minister.

The second group of people I want to mention are the 11 Irish citizens seconded to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. I am glad the Minister made reference to it earlier. These are fantastic people. They are completely unarmed. They have been based there for several months. Some of them have been based there for a couple of years. A number of them are based in the Donbas region on both sides of the line of separation. I mention this for several reasons. Other Deputies in the House, quite rightly, raised the fact that there is a great deal of disinformation and propaganda flowing around. It is very important to have people on location providing impartial objective verification of information. It is also important that our people out there should be supported. There are employment contract irregularities associated with the 11 people out there. They received verbal commitments in the past on a stipend from the Department of Foreign Affairs but it has yet to be delivered. It is important these wonderful people are not out of pocket for the exceptionally challenging, difficult and vital work they are doing.

I utterly condemn the conduct, behaviour and activities of the Russian military in and around Ukraine, particularly in recent days. I very much note and respect the restraint shown by the Ukrainian authorities.

I hope that dialogue, diplomacy and deterrence wins out but I fear that we have passed the point of no return and that we are heading towards conflict. Ireland should be prepared for the indirect consequences that will arrive on our shores as a result.

I welcome the opportunity to speak today. I welcome the Ukrainian ambassador, H.E. Larysa Gerasko, and her colleagues here this evening. I offer my full support to the Ukrainian people at this extremely difficult and worrying time.

Unfortunately, the situation in Ukraine has deteriorated rapidly over the past days. The action of Russia and its President Putin is causing great concern, not only to the citizens in Ukraine but to all of us in the EU.

I have spoken with many Ukrainian nationals who reside in my constituency. It is clear from speaking with them that they are greatly worried for their home country and their many friends and families there. Surely, if history has taught us anything it is that war is not the lasting solution. I acknowledge the efforts of our Government as part of the wider EU effort to find a diplomatic solution, but it is clear to see that Putin has his mind made up on the course of action he intends to take. This, unfortunately, looks like military action, a course that nobody wants.

It is important now that the EU and its counterparts continue to try to reach a diplomatic solution. I agree with and support the calls by the Taoiseach yesterday, when he called on Russia to de-escalate and withdraw his military forces from the Ukrainian border. As the Taoiseach stated, the action of Russia is clearly a violation of international law and a breach of Ukraine's sovereignty. The bottom line is that those actions breach fundamental principles of the UN Charter, which clearly states that all member states must refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or the political independence of any state. What Russia is currently engaged in clearly breaches this UN charter.

I am pleased that Ireland stands in solidarity with Ukraine. As I said earlier, I have spoken with a number of Ukrainian nationals who reside in my constituency in the town of Dundalk. While they are extremely worried about the current situation, it is also clear that they are willing to defend their rights. Will the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, clarify what actions are being taken to protect Irish nationals who are currently in Ukraine? We certainly do not want a situation where they are caught on the hop if the circumstances deteriorate any further and they are left stranded. Will the Minister of State give an update on this? Will he outline exactly what actions the Irish Government intends to take so that Irish nationals in Ukraine are safe? What are the measures in place to ensure their rapid evacuation if needed?

In its response yesterday the EU quickly imposed sanctions on Russia, which I support fully. The only question I would raise is around the so-called "Russian funds" being channelled through Ireland. This was referred to last night on RTÉ, and it was suggested that the vast majority of this money, which apparently is channelled through the financial systems in Ireland, comes from dubious sources. If this is the case, the Irish Government must take swift and decisive action in this regard. We cannot have a situation whereby Russian money is laundered through Ireland's financial system. It would leave Ireland in a position where on the one hand we stand in solidarity with Ukraine and with our EU neighbours, and on the other hand our financial system is being used to launder Russian money. I ask the Minister of State to also look into that. I call on the Government to make a statement on this, and to confirm the actions it intends to take to stop this.

I offer my full support to the Ukrainian people at this extremely difficult and worrying time. I encourage all sides to pursue the diplomatic process that will result in a long-term peaceful solution. We on this island know more than most that war and violence does not lead to a lasting solution, only heartache and bitterness.

I acknowledge the presence of the Ukrainian diplomats and their ambassador, H.E. Larysa Gerasko. They are welcome to the House.

It is appalling to see what is happening in the sovereign state that is Ukraine. I have had the good fortune of meeting many members of the Ukrainian community. I had my first interaction with people who were not from Ireland when in primary school. I went to a small rural school of just 39 pupils. It was my first interaction with people who were not born and raised in Ireland. I have very fond memories of meeting people from the Ukrainian community in Ireland in my career in politics to date. They are a very proud people. They care very deeply about their culture, which is diverse. They speak different languages, which many people might not be aware of. It is important to say in this House that the people of Ireland have a great appreciation for the importance of Ukraine's place in the world. What is happening is absolutely abhorrent, with Ukrainian sovereignty being tested by the Russians.

It is important for Ireland, as a small independent country that fought extraordinarily hard for independence, to stand up for the rights of every single democracy no matter where they are in the world, when they are being threatened for absolutely no reason at all.

This week I went to Clonmult with Uachtarán na hÉireann and An Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, where we saw just what type of struggle our own people went through to get their freedom. It was a freedom that was hard fought. The freedom of the people of Ukraine is being challenged, and in today's world, in the 21st century and in the new millennium, it is absolutely appalling that they are being treated in such a fashion.

I would like to make the important point to the House that we should learn lessons from what is happening in Ukraine. It is extremely concerning from a security point of view, not alone for us in the Republic of Ireland, but also for the European continent. We need to evaluate our own security and how safe we are as a people. I would encourage all Irish citizens who are still in Ukraine to immediately seek a degree of safety, whether they return to the Republic of Ireland or make contact with the embassy. I commend the work the Department of Foreign Affairs and the different Ministers in that Department are doing. It is not easy work, but it is important to make that point in the House. It is not something we often discuss. We must also acknowledge the work we are undertaking in the United Nations through our ambassador in the UN. The UN Security Council met on a number of occasions, in particular the other night, to discuss the latest developments in that situation.

What is happening is outrageous in the sense of territorial claims being made and attempts to form new countries. We should completely and utterly reject this as a sovereign and independent democracy. It is important to say that. Speaking as a young person, it is fair to say that the people of Ukraine have an extremely bright future ahead of them if it is allowed to succeed and prosper in its own right. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union there has been enormous progress in the development of Ukraine as a country, and successes lay ahead for it until this incident took place. Ireland, as a neutral country, is obviously in a very unique position. Unlike many of our European neighbours, which are members of NATO, the Republic of Ireland, as a neutral country, is able to stand on its own two feet and say to the Ukrainian people that it commits to protect democracies, no matter where they are in the world, that it values human life and that it places a value on freedoms for people to make their own choices and live the lives they wish to live.

I take this opportunity to add my own two cent as a Deputy from Cork. There are many people in my constituency and in my county with strong connections to Ukraine.

From a defence point of view, it is unacceptable that in the Haulbowline Naval Service base, which is in my constituency, two ships are tied up there at the moment with the threat of a third being tied up. From a security point of view, we must take urgent action to protect our own sovereignty. We are a small independent nation that could potentially be vulnerable to future incursions. Recently, we saw what the Russians are capable doing. An absolutely unacceptable incident took place off the coast of Ireland. Although it was outside our sovereign territory, it was within our exclusive economic zone. It is important that Ireland invests and has the ability to detect what is in Irish airspace. We do not have that ability currently if airplanes turn off their transponders. It would also ensure optimal conditions in the Defence Forces so that people would want to stay in and have careers in the Defence Forces. The pride people have working for the Defence Forces is something I have noted when canvassing. We should invest in the Defence Forces' future to ensure our own safety.

From a peacekeeping point of view, I hope that some resolution is found in Ukraine so that we can avoid bloodshed. Unfortunately, it does not seem to be going in that particular direction. My calls may fall on deaf ears, considering the position I am in. However, it is important that Russia takes stock of what it is doing, how it will impact on the view the world has of Russia in the future, and that it withdraws its troops immediately from Ukrainian territory.

I welcome the Ukrainian ambassador, H.E. Larysa Gerasko, to the House.

I would like to welcome the comments of the Minister, Deputy Coveney, at the opening of the debate. It was a strong speech which outlined the solidarity he, the Government and the House have with Ukraine at this time. I welcome the unity and solidarity expressed by Members across the Chamber.

At the outset, I want to make the distinction that the Russian people are not Putin and Putin is not the Russian people. That distinction is critically important and we should be very clear about that. A war on the borders of the European Union and in cyberspace, a war on a sovereign state and a war on democracy itself is starting to play out. It is as sombre an occasion as events in the early 1910s or 1930s or, indeed, the events of the Cold War of the latter half of the 20th century.

It is worthwhile reiterating in this Chamber that the West has not goaded Putin into war. The Russian President has often invoked the NATO threat as justification, but this week he clearly laid out his actual grievances for lost power and influence. Let there be no mistake. This is a war initiated by Putin on a sovereign and independent state. Putin has always feared successful democracies, in particular, flourishing, sovereign and independent states, following the fall of the USSR.

We need to be prepared, I am sad to say, for a humanitarian crisis caused by an autocratic regime, and we need to be willing to play our part. My colleague on the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, Deputy Cathal Berry, has repeatedly emphasised the need to support the Ukrainian people, as he did just a few minutes ago. He stated that we often think we have little control over geopolitical events, but we have control over our preparation and our response.

Sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union this week, and the swiftness of those sanctions, are to be welcomed. We are likely going to need further and more severe sanctions as we go forward. I note Deputy Howlin is in the Chamber, and I want to acknowledge his efforts in bringing forward the Proceeds of Crime (Gross Human Rights Abuses) Bill 2020, which completed Second Stage in the House last year. It would strengthen our defence against Russian oligarchs who are laundering money in this country. This Government should seriously consider supporting Deputy Howlin's Bill.

Reference was made earlier to Nord Stream 2 and the cancellation of the project yesterday. It was the correct decision by Chancellor Scholz. It will cause hardship for the European Union and lead to an elevation of energy prices across member states, but this is the price of solidarity. It is the price of upholding democracy and sovereign integrity.

Deputies mentioned the longer term solution, and I have spoken many times in the House about how the west of the European Union can provide the energy for Europe so that it is not relying on the autocratic regime to the east. I have spoken about it in respect of the opportunity that it represents for Ireland, but it is an opportunity for Europe to unravel itself from dependence on the Russian state.

War and violence should never be glorified. They result in death and destruction, families divided and a long legacy of trauma. Democracy is fragile and must be shored up by our institutions, by our media and in this House. We must avoid misinformation and polarisation on the critical issues of our day. However, democracy can be resilient when people unite with a common purpose. Years of sustained and unrelenting pressure from Putin has not broken Ukrainian democracy. With true and effective solidarity and unity, I do not believe he will succeed this time either.

I again welcome the Ukrainian ambassador, H.E. Larysa Gerasko, and her team and look forward, on behalf of our group, to a productive dialogue. I look forward to meeting her. Like everybody else, I am very concerned about what is going on. Many Ukrainian nationals, some of whom are now Irish citizens, are living and working in Tipperary and have families. They are involved in crafts and trades. They are a valuable source of workers and very friendly people in Tipperary and around the country.

I am worried about our situation in Ireland, given that we are a neutral country. We are neutral in name, but we are abandoning that. I am worried about the statements and noises being made by NATO and Europe. Are we provoking a situation? Kicking a dog often enough means he will bite. I am worried.

We turn a blind eye to many cases of oppression and genocide all over the world. We do not mention that at all because it does not suit us. International women's day is coming up. It has been welcomed, organised and celebrated in this country. Women in minority Muslim and Christian sects are being slaughtered and abused. There are forced marriages and trafficking. People were talking about that on International Women's Day, but how many people were listening? We are ignoring that, and we should not be doing that.

We have to play our part. Our Army has been diminished to nothing. We have no respect for our Army any more and yet we want to flex our muscles. We will not speak out about the issues we should be speaking out about. We are selective in what we speak out about. I do not want to see war, no more than anybody else. The human cost will be ferocious. This is not acceptable as far as I am concerned. We are making noises and going towards PESCO and other situations like that. We should value and support our neutrality.

I too am glad to have the opportunity to welcome the Ukrainian ambassador and her team to our Parliament. We wish them well. I hope the Minister of State did not get caught in the crossfire. He seems to be injured, but I am sure he is fine.

We sympathise with Ukraine and its people. It is not too long ago that a previous generation was involved in civil war and continuation of battle with the British until we got our own independence. As well as the trouble with Russia, there is a civil war threatening in Ukraine because there is a divide between the people. Some want to go with the east and others want to go West.

We have to protect our neutrality. We have done that over the years, including de Valera during the Second World War. Everything worked out and he was right. We do not have a powerful Army to intervene. We have a wonderful Army that has provided a great peacekeeping service all over the world, including in Lebanon. We are very proud of them. We do not have an army to deal with this situation.

I am sorry to see how dependent we are on Russia for fertiliser, fuel and gas. It is disappointing to think that the Government and Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications has gone against a proposal to bring in gas by Shannon LNG. We could buy gas more cheaply from the West and not have to depend on the east.

I also welcome the Ukrainian ambassador and her team. My concern is that because we are on the edge of Europe we are on the tail end of the supply chain which is a major disadvantage in times of shortage.

We are in a vulnerable situation. I ask the Minister to invest in our own producers to ensure that, if this happens, we are sustainable. Hopefully it will not happen. Like it or lump it, we are influenced economically by our relationship with Russia. Some 30% of global wheat, 30% of barley and 20% of corn exports come from Russia and Ukraine. This produce comes through the Black Sea and is transported down the Danube. It can only come through without conflict. Russia is the largest fertiliser exporter in the world, accounting for 25% of global nitrogen, 20% of global potash and 16% of global phosphate exports. Russia supplies 40% of Europe's natural gas and 30% of Russia's crude oil is exported. Crude oil prices have increased by 16% since January, bringing the price of a barrel to €83.45.

We need to stick by Irish producers to make sure they are viable if anything like this happens. We are at the tail end of the supply chain from Europe. I sympathise with Ukraine but, as a public representative, I have to think of the Irish people and how our supplies come through. We had debates here all day on putting a mini budget in place to help our farming community, so that we can survive if there is a shortage of food. Like it or lump it, if Russia invades Ukraine, there will be a shortage throughout the world. We can see how reliant we are on Russia and Ukraine, so we are compromised.

I welcome the Ukrainian ambassador and her team. I note that it is an all-female delegation. I welcome that. I also want to use that fact to point out that in every war, it is women, children and civilians who suffer most. At the bottom of that list, are the warmongers and those who cry loudest for war. I am shocked to hear some voices in this Dáil talk about the outbreak of a third world war or words to that effect. We should be raging against any possibility of war. We should be using our voice as a neutral country, which is a powerful voice that has long been recognised and given respect because we have carried out our role as an independent, neutral country with integrity and as part of UN missions. I have listened to the debate in my office and in here. I am truly horrified as a woman, mother and female Deputy at the casual acceptance of war. I do not want to waste my time giving my opinion of Putin. I am on the record about it. He is a dictator with no respect for democracy. NATO's role in all of this has already been outlined by some colleagues on the left, but certainly not on the right. NATO has played a despicable role in moving forward to the border and engaging in warmongering. Ireland has been hypocritical on many levels.

I will address a positive matter. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, called for us to focus on dialogue and diplomacy. I hope he does that and I will fully support him. I do not want war. The casual manner in which history is being described here is totally inaccurate. War does not solve anything. Perhaps women might begin to say, out loud, "Not in our name," and "Peace in our name." Women and children suffer the most. There was rightly outrage about the Russian military being in our waters. It was not matched by outrage about NATO exercises in our waters, to which we turned a blind eye. We turned a blind eye to the blatant breach of international law by Israel against Palestine and to Yemen and Saudi Arabia's role there, which Ireland colluded with. I will take no lectures from any male Deputy in this Chamber about standing up and seeing the reality. I know the reality. I have read everything I can get and looked at every possible document about war. It solves nothing. I stand firmly with Ukraine. What it is facing is unimaginable. Even more unimaginable is a third world war, with NATO having a role. We now need a critical compass when we have lost our moral compass.

I welcome the all-female delegation from Ukraine. I want to pass on my best wishes to them, their family and all Ukrainians. All I can offer to the ambassador and her colleagues are my words, but they are sincerely and strongly spoken. This House, representing the Irish people, is overwhelmingly supportive of the right of Ukrainian people to self-determination and territorial sovereignty. We repudiate the idea that any state, through force of arms or cyberattacks, can attempt to extend its sphere of influence beyond its borders. We will not accept that powerful states can attempt to control their smaller neighbours.

The current situation has come about because those who sees themselves as strong men or hard men want to reverse the historical change that has taken place over the past 100 years, especially the historical changes in Ukraine leading up to 2013, culminating in Euromaidan in 2014. I must admit that it was only when, as an MEP, I visited Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland, that I got some sense of their legitimate security concerns and how aware they are of the lessons of history. They are determined not to reverse the democratic and positive changes that have taken place, which have been consolidated by EU membership.

I spoke of sincere words, but actions also matter. In the context of EU membership, which I spoke about, the EU has walked back from the planned association agreement that Ukraine signed in 2013 and which Russia managed to scuttle. I have met many Ukrainians who aspire to EU membership or at least want to get back to that point.

We need to participate fully in any sanctions agreed at EU level. This will be tough and we must not falter. We have to be generous in our response to any Ukrainians who are forced to flee their homeland. We hear the stories of dark money and how Dublin is part of a circle of dark money and shell companies. This cannot be used to support any Russian aggression.

I welcome the ambassador. I have listened to these statements for the past two hours. They leave me with many questions. Do we know what the view on the ground is in Luhansk and Donetsk? How do we know it if we do not have diplomats there? Maybe we have diplomats there. Maybe we have a tiny embassy in Kyiv. Are we getting information from the ground from other EU states? If so, which states? Are we taking information from the media? If so, what media? Are the media there? I do not see them there. What is the difference between the Duma's recognition of those regions and our recognition of Kosovo, which Russia opposed at the time? Do we know what the impact of the proposed sanctions will be on the leadership of Russia, ordinary people in Russia and ordinary people in this State? Can we fuel industries and heat homes with self-righteousness? I see the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications here. A great project has been proposed in Clare. It is not unique. It is to extract methane from slurry. Are there any plans to capture methane in this House and do something productive with the statements we have heard over the past two weeks?

We will not be tempted to respond to that.

It falls to me to conclude this debate and to welcome the ambassador from Ukraine. H.E. Larysa Gerasko and her colleagues are very welcome. The ambassador represents the second largest country in Europe, which is often forgotten in the debates that we have. It is a country of more than 40 million people and is second in size to Russia. It has been heartening to hear the widespread support for Ukraine in the statements today. As the Minister, Deputy Coveney, said, the support in the Dáil and indeed in the Oireachtas is a reflection of the support for the Ukrainian people in Irish society. I am conscious that people across the country are following the issue closely, learning more about Ukraine, and are looking closely at our statements.

We in Ireland have a privilege that not everyone in the world enjoys, that is, the privilege to live in a free society and a democracy. The Chamber in which we speak is the realisation and symbol of that free society. The privilege comes with a duty too, that is, a duty to maintain democracy. Every generation must recognise and meet that duty. The continuance of democracy cannot be guaranteed passively or taken for granted. In 2019, not so long ago, we in the Dáil celebrated our House's centenary. Many of the Members here will remember the sense of pride with which this institution marked the Dáil100 commemoration. It was a landmark moment for the nation and a reminder to us as Deputies, elected by the people, that we have a particular role as stewards of democracy. Our freedom was hard-won.

To those who say we should be doing more at the United Nations, I suggest they watch the speech of our ambassador to the United Nations, Geraldine Byrne Nason, who does us proud every day of the week on the United Nations Security Council, in which she reminded everybody around that table that we support the rights of Ukraine to its territorial integrity and an independent foreign policy because we fought hard for those rights. That is why we have a seat on the Security Council. This is not a question of military neutrality or a question of NATO; it is a very simple question of right or wrong, in accordance with the United Nations Charter. As defenders of democracy, we cannot be concerned with only our own country. Deputy O'Donoghue set out the interconnectedness of the world. Democracy must be stood for as well.

I have worked extensively with the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and the Taoiseach on relations with the EU's eastern neighbourhood. We have seen the immense challenges Ukraine has faced due to external pressures. These include cyberattacks, of which we have our own experience, and the attempted interference and threatening military posture of Russia. Russia has an unprecedented number of troops completely encircling Ukraine, including in Belarus. I urge those who blame NATO to go and look in the face of any of my colleagues, or any politician from any of the Baltic states, or from any of the countries neighbouring Russia. Deputy Connolly mentioned men warmongering. I urge her to listen to the Prime Minister of Estonia, Kaja Kallas, an incredible woman who has spoken out not only for peace but also for the security of her country, which is threatened all the time. Estonians live in fear of that threat because they have experienced it time and time again.

Ukraine, like Ireland, has had a hard-won independence. It has also had a hard-won path to establishing itself as a sovereign democracy, free from foreign interference. Yet it has stuck stubbornly to that choice, no matter what is thrown at it, and the people of Ukraine have increasingly supported democracy, the rule of law and possible membership of the European Union. If you talk to the people of Ukraine and consider the relevant opinion polls, as we have seen reported in the press, you will find they support NATO. Ireland has decided not to join NATO. That is our sovereign choice. Equally, it is the sovereign choice of the Ukrainians to join NATO if that is what they want to do.

Last summer I participated virtually in the Ukraine Reform Conference, which analysed Ukraine's reform work in detail. We have seen the incredible work to which Ukraine has committed itself in pursuing a reform process in recent years to establish stronger institutions and better societal resilience. As envisaged in its association agreement with the EU, which was opposed by the main opposition group in the European Parliament, and opposed in the Dáil in a motion, real reforms have been made towards strengthening the rule of law, despite strong efforts on the part of vested interests to undermine it. Despite external aggression that has been ongoing since 2014, the Ukrainian people have never backed down in their will to strengthen their democracy and to build strong institutions. They have refused to be intimidated in the defence of their sovereignty, their democracy and their freedom. They know that, like in Ireland, economic and social progress derive from our democracy and our commitments to the rule of law.

I thank the Ukrainian ambassador to Ireland and our ambassador in Ukraine. Deputy Berry made a fair point that we should be very concerned for our people in Ukraine. We have diplomats and other people working in Ukraine and in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE. There are detailed plans to evacuate staff if that becomes necessary. We are ensconced with the EU mission in Ukraine and we have had discussions as to how staff would be evacuated. They need to be there today, however. There is work to be done. Many Irish citizens are still there. They are urged to leave if they can. Our diplomats, however, continue to work and to give service to the Irish people there and to further relations between Ukraine and Ireland.

Belarus was mentioned. Our Government and our Parliament have shown strong support for the cause of democracy there too. The Government and the Oireachtas were proud to welcome Ms Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to Ireland last year to discuss Belarus's situation. Developments in Belarus have been worrying. More than 30,000 Russian troops are now stationed in Belarus. They arrived ostensibly for joint military exercises, which do happen there from time to time, but they did not leave when the drills were completed. Now the Belarusian defence ministry alleges that the increased military activity in the Donbas and near the borders of the so-called union state of Russia and Belarus justifies keeping forces in Belarus. The people of Belarus did not ask for this and did not agree to any unification with Russia, and we certainly do not recognise such a union. The Belarusian opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, put out a recent statement that Belarus is being drawn into a foreign war and turned into an aggressor country. Alexander Lukashenko is moving ahead with a constitutional referendum this Sunday, which will be profoundly anti-democratic and will show contempt for his own people and his disregard for peace and security.

I had the opportunity to represent Ireland at last year's ministerial meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in Stockholm. That meeting was an eye-opener for me. I was present at a meeting at which the Russian foreign minister had a long engagement with his Ukrainian and American counterparts and, strangely enough, his Norwegian counterpart. Norway is a very strong country in support of peace as well. The meeting certainly opened my eyes. In conversations I had with the Ukrainian foreign minister back in early December, it was clear to me that Ukraine was very worried about this period in February. The OSCE remains a unique and crucial platform for security co-operation in Europe, with the value-adding capability of maintaining dialogue on security issues between all parties in the region. The OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine, the largest OSCE presence in the region, has made an important contribution in eastern Ukraine over the years. The Government believes that the OSCE is the appropriate forum at which to discuss the European security architecture, inclusive of all 57 participating states of the OSCE.

Peace is a choice. War is a choice. This Dáil, I have no doubt, makes the choice for peace. It is important we send a clear message from this Chamber that peace is always possible and that it is always possible to draw back from the brink and to choose peace. Ireland has learned the hard way the lesson of peace on this island. The Irish Government and our European partners at EU level, at OSCE level and on the UN Security Council will continue to pursue the path of peace and to call on the leadership of the Russian Federation to do the same. Supporting basic principles of the United Nations' founding Charter is not a breach of our neutrality; it is our obligation as a democratic state and a member of the United Nations.

Top
Share