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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 1 Mar 2022

Vol. 1018 No. 7

Support for the Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity of Ukraine: Motion

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

recalls:

— that in the first Article of Bunreacht na hÉireann the Irish nation affirmed its inalienable, indefeasible, and sovereign right to choose its own form of Government, to determine its relations with other nations, and to develop its life, political, economic and cultural, in accordance with its own genius and traditions;

— that Ireland believes in, and is fully committed to the core principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations (UN), which include the sovereign equality and territorial integrity of states;

— that 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 territory; and

— the commitments we make as members of the UN are binding on every UN Member State;

reaffirms its commitment to the principle of the pacific settlement of disputes and calls on all nations to settle disputes peacefully in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations;

condemns in the strongest terms Russia's acts of aggression against Ukraine and reaffirms its unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders;

notes that 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;

rejects the decision of the Russian Federation to recognise the so-called "independence" of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions as a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and calls upon the Russian Federation to reverse this decision;

urges Russia to reverse the recognition, withdraw its military forces, and return to discussions within the Normandy format;

calls for the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements as endorsed by the Security Council in UN Security Council Resolution 2202 (2015);

welcomes the commitment of €10 million in humanitarian aid to the Ukraine Humanitarian Response Plan as an expression of Irish solidarity with the people of Ukraine; and

calls upon the Secretary General of the United Nations to use his good offices to search for a peaceful settlement.

Thursday, 24 February 2022 is a day that will live in infamy. In the early hours of the morning, Russian forces began a large-scale assault on the sovereign nation of Ukraine, involving invasion by land, sea and air. Russia mounted this invasion from multiple fronts, including Ukraine's northern border with Belarus. Russia, a country of 17 million sq km – and with the added utilisation of Belarus's territory - tried to suddenly overwhelm its neighbour of 604,000 sq km in the middle of the night. The previous evening, the Dáil had heard statements on the security situation in Europe. The solidarity with Ukraine, expressed in the presence of the Ukrainian ambassador to Ireland, was widespread and sincere across this House. The message from this House was unwavering: Ireland supports Ukraine. That evening – not even a week ago - we were clear in our condemnation of President Putin's decision to recognise the non-Government controlled areas in the Ukrainian oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent entities, and we were, of course, deeply concerned by Russia's military build-up and aggressive stance towards Ukraine. That was only six days ago.

Less than a week later, we gather again, united in horror at the outrageous and naked aggression which we have seen from Russia against its neighbour. Through its decision to launch an invasion, violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, the Russian Federation has brought war to European soil. It has flagrantly violating the UN Charter and the core principles of international law. Its actions have horrified and disgusted the world.

I have been asked questions in recent days about Ireland's military neutrality - we heard some of them again today - and the impact on our neutrality by some of our responses to the Ukraine crisis. Ireland is militarily neutral, that is, we are not a member of a military alliance. Let me say clearly, however, that we are not, and will never be, politically neutral in the face of the bombardment of cities, the targeting of civilian infrastructure, and attempts to lay siege to a city of 3 million men, women and children - people who have never asked for war and who wish only to live in a democratic, peaceful, stable and free country and make their own sovereign decisions about their foreign and security policy.

Like all of us in this House, I have been deeply impressed by the resolve shown by the Ukrainian people and government. As we speak, the capital, Kyiv, and the second largest city, Kharkiv, remain in Ukrainian hands despite intensive attacks against both. The dignity and heroism of so many ordinary Ukrainians has been simply extraordinary. The leadership shown by President Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Kuleba has been exemplary.

In response to Ukraine's application for EU membership, I say that Ireland is a strong supporter of Ukraine's European aspiration and making that happen as soon as possible. Ukraine has shown extraordinary determination to uphold the values of the EU. We have seen a heroic effort over the past number of days to defend not only Ukraine, but a value system and a way of life that they want to pursue. Ukrainians in their thousands are willing to lay down their lives to protect that dream.

I devoted some time in my statement on Wednesday last to the EU response. In my 24 years in politics, I have never seen EU member states as unified and with as much resolve as I have seen on this issue. In the space of five days, we have imposed three packages of unprecedented sanctions against Russia; hitting the web of companies, financial institutions, state institutions and agencies, oligarchs, government members and media interests that surround President Putin and enable the corruption and violence that we have seen on such naked display in the past week.

These actions include: the closure of EU airspace to all Russian aircraft; freezing the assets of the Russian Central Bank in the EU; expelling key Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, SWIFT, system; sanctioning more than 500 individual oligarchs, Government Ministers, senior army and security officials and heads of state institutions; extending sanctions on Belarus for its role in allowing its territory to be used for Russian aggression; and sanctioning key figures and Russian media outlets that are disseminating disinformation across the EU. EU leaders said in December that further military aggression by Russia against Ukraine would result in massive cost for Russia, and this is exactly what has happened.

Ireland will continue to play its part in these collective efforts. We have been at the forefront of EU efforts and, indeed, sometimes ahead; taking a decision in principle to ban Russian aircraft from our airspace in advance of the collective EU agreement to do so, and calling early for an exclusion of key Russian financial institutions and banks from SWIFT.

Each package of sanctions has been designed to add an additional layer of pressure on the Russian - and Belarusian - Governments and to cripple their ability to finance their illegal and unconscionable actions. Ireland will support any further proposals that we believe will be effective in stymying Russia's war efforts. The news coming out of Russia since Thursday shows that these wide-ranging sanctions are having an undeniable effect. The value of the ruble has crashed, which will impact Russia's continued ability to conduct this war. The effect of asset freezes and travel bans will be felt immediately by individuals who have been sanctioned, including those close to President Putin, who influence his decisions and provide him with support.

Sanctions are not cost-free for Ireland or for the other countries joining this unprecedented global effort. We are in ongoing contact with Irish companies to support them in mitigating some of the impacts on them and we will continue work at Government level to ensure we are ready for any countermeasures that Russia might impose on the EU, which we can expect to be potentially severe. No one is being hurt as much as the innocent Ukrainians citizens, fleeing for refuge, whose cities are under siege and whose civilian infrastructure is being targeted.

I welcome the statement of the International Criminal Court prosecutor, Karim Khan, that he will open an investigation into the situation in Ukraine. He stated unambiguously last night that there is a reasonable basis to believe that both alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in Ukraine. Ireland, as always, will stand firmly and unambiguously behind the International Criminal Court and defend its independence and impartiality. Alarmingly, we have also seen reported use of cluster munitions or bombs in an urban residential area in Ukraine's second largest city, which Ireland strongly condemns. The use of indiscriminate and disproportionate weapons cannot be tolerated and is a clear violation of international humanitarian law.

We must do everything we can to reach and to support Ukrainian people. My Department announced late last week a fresh €10 million in humanitarian funding for Ukraine. The Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, has confirmed that we have suspended all visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens seeking to enter Ireland, for their first 90 days. Two days ago, along with my EU colleagues, we agreed a package of €500 million in military assistance for the Ukrainian military through the European Peace Facility, EPF, so that people can defend themselves. In line with the commitment in the programme for Government, Ireland will pay our share of those efforts in full. Our proportion, which is likely to be approximately €10 million, will be used exclusively for the provision of non-lethal support. The latter component will include supplies such as personal protective equipment, medical kits and fuel, all urgently needed and being sought by Ukrainians. Two fellow EU member states, Austria and Malta, have taken a similar approach.

Ireland has also led the response at UN level. After Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution last Friday condemning the offensive against Ukraine and calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities and urgent dialogue, Ireland moved quickly to ensure that an urgent session of the General Assembly was convened. The Russian Federation's use of the veto at the Security Council was a reprehensible attempt to excuse its own military aggression against another sovereign state. It must not and will not prevent the international community from responding to Russia's blatant breaches of international law, nor will it deter us from holding Russia accountable for its actions. We hope and expect that a majority of the members of the UN General Assembly will support a clear and robust resolution to condemn this outright violation of the UN charter. We will bring this issue back into the Security Council chamber and are pushing today for the adoption of a resolution calling for safe and unhindered humanitarian access to all in need in Ukraine.

I will not go into the details here on the consular issues on which my Department continues to lead. I will just say that my officials are in ongoing contact with the Irish citizens remaining in Ukraine - the number fluctuates daily, but today stands at just under 80. We are also in contact with families in surrogacy arrangements in Ukraine and Members will understand that I do not want to make any comment on that publicly, given the extreme sensitivity of the situation that applies to a number of families, some here and some in Poland, waiting for news of their newborn children. I want to make clear that our strong advice is against all travel to Ukraine for any reason. I understand the strength of feeling among Ukrainian and Irish citizens alike and some have been in contact with my Department, looking for information on how to join the military efforts to defend Ukraine. I must make clear again - the situation in Ukraine is extremely volatile and dangerous and Irish citizens and residents should not travel under any circumstances.

This motion, which I am laying before the House, articulates the support from every political party and every Deputy here for Ukraine. Last week, Leinster House, along with many other civic buildings in Ireland, lit up in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, blue and yellow, to show solidarity. It is now time for us in the Dáil to formally record solidarity with Ukraine, by agreeing this motion. In the course of our debates on the security situation in Europe, there have been some differences of emphasis and some differences of view expressed on international matters, as is normal in a healthy democracy. As a fundamental principle, there has been widespread support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. I know we can reiterate that collectively today. The text of this motion is straightforward in its support for Ukraine and I urge all Deputies to support it.

The date, 24 February 2022, was a dark day for Ukraine, for Russia, for Belarus, and for the whole world. President Putin's announcement represents a dangerous and irresponsible escalation in tensions, and considerably heightens the risk of catastrophic miscalculation. There can be no justification for threatening the use of nuclear weapons. I have called for Russia to immediately revoke the order to place nuclear weapons on high-alert status, and I urge maximum restraint and de-escalation.

As I close, I want to speak directly to any Russian people in Ireland or elsewhere, who are watching or listening to this debate. We know that many Russian people do not want this war. Many have been deeply courageous in protesting against military aggression. We know that the people of Belarus are not represented by the aggressive actions of the Belarusian Government either. There is still time. Enormous damage and destruction has been done. The loss of human life, which is mounting as we speak, is beyond shocking. The UNHCR estimates that 500,000 Ukrainians have already fled to neighbouring countries, four in particular. However, there is still time to pull back, and to choose a path of reason, restraint and diplomacy. In this motion, the Dáil calls on Russia to withdraw its military immediately. This can be done at any moment. What has happened will not be forgotten, but we can still work towards peace and resolution, and that is an aspiration everybody in this House should support.

Could we return to the practice of distributing the speeches of Ministers? It is such a facility for Members.

Yes. I am sorry. I will work on that and make sure it is done.

Will the scripts be distributed during the debate?

Yes. The events of the past week have rightly caused anger and disgust across our Continent and across the world. Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, a sovereign state, is unprovoked, illegal, a blatant disregard of international law and, most importantly, shows a blatant disregard for the sanctity of human life. It is the act of an autocratic and dangerous bully with no regard for any interests but his own. It is important to say that this is Putin's war. As the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, outlined, we know there are many Russian people who are as horrified by what he is doing as we are.

The images from Ukraine are truly horrifying – images of families fleeing their homes for safety, images of bombs ripping through cities and towns, images of doctors fighting in vain to save the life of a six-year-old girl still wearing her pyjamas. Those doctors were right to demand that the images of that dying girl be shown to Vladimir Putin. Nothing so encapsulated the horror of war.

We must be clear: nobody is responsible for this war but Vladimir Putin and those who surround him in a discredited and morally bankrupt regime. They are responsible for the death and destruction being visited upon a proud country whose only desire is freedom, the freedom to choose their own path, something we in this House recognise.

In Ukraine right now, we see the best of the human spirit in President Zelenskyy and his people, fighting for that freedom and the right to manage their own destiny. We see it in the members of the Ukrainian community here returning to help their country at its time of need. We should be proud that they desire to be part of the European Union, our Union of free nations working together for mutual benefit, a Union, as we know, in which smaller nations and larger nations share peace and prosperity equally.

That imposes on us here in Ireland and in the European Union a responsibility to do all we can to help Ukraine and its people. This morning, I briefed the Cabinet on discussions I have been having with EU Justice and Home Affairs colleagues on what we can do, as well as the potential implications of the invasion of Ukraine. These include the need to be vigilant against potential security issues as well as cyber threats.

For many of us, the discussion focused on how we can assist the Ukrainian people. Here in Ireland, we have already lifted visa requirements to allow Ukrainian people who want to seek safety here to do so as quickly and easily as possible. Prior to the lifting of the visa requirement for Ukraine nationals, the Department of Justice, in co-operation with the Department of Foreign Affairs, was working to ensure that it assisted Irish citizens and their family members in Ukraine speedily and with flexibility. This included applications for non-EEA family members of Irish citizens which were processed swiftly and humanely, with no backlog of applications. Family reunification visas for the family members of Irish nationals were granted in eight out of eight completed applications made over the days before the invasion. As the Minister, Deputy Coveney, outlined, we have also worked to help many families expecting babies through surrogacy in Ukraine who found themselves, and still find themselves, in unimaginable situations, and we will continue to support them.

Since I introduced the visa waiver on Friday, 25 February, a total of 143 Ukrainians had arrived in the State up to 6 p.m. yesterday. However, it should be noted that many of those who travelled were already resident in the State and had travelled back to the State for reasons other than escaping the conflict in Ukraine. We will, of course, keep the situation under review as events transpire.

However, that is an emergency measure and we must do more. We will act in co-operation with our colleagues across the EU. I will meet colleagues again on Thursday and it is likely that we will activate the EU's temporary protection directive. This is designed to provide a co-ordinated response to a mass influx of displaced persons to standardise the giving of temporary protection across EU member states and to ensure that all member states play their part. This measure has not previously been used by the EU but the view is that it would be the right mechanism to help those leaving Ukraine.

As I said, the Government is clear that Ireland will play is part in assisting Ukraine and its people, and has a clear record of helping those in need. In recent months, Ireland has opened the Afghan admission programme to help family members of the Afghan community here from Afghanistan. This programme was the only one of its kind in Europe. Through the Irish refugee protection programme, Ireland has also offered refugee protection to more than 500 Afghan nationals, as well as meeting ongoing commitments in relation to Syrian refugees. Previous Governments also introduced the Syrian humanitarian admissions programme, which offered temporary Irish residence to vulnerable persons who are present in Syria.

It is not possible at this point to be precise about numbers of Ukrainian people who will come here under this directive but it is likely to be significant. The numbers fleeing Ukraine are growing daily, with more than 650,000 estimated to have fled the country and significant numbers of displaced persons locating themselves in neighbouring territories. More than 280,000 had fled to Poland alone by last Saturday. I have no doubt that the Irish people will welcome and shelter all of those who come here and seek our help. As a people, we have never been found wanting, and we will certainly not be found wanting now.

The activation of the temporary protection directive would involve creating a simplified protection route to process the numbers of people who could come to Ireland. The Department of Justice has already started work on this. Rather than being required to apply for international protection, those arriving would instead access a simplified process to receive temporary residency permission for one year initially, which may be extended for further periods, potentially up to three years. The permission would provide an immediate right of access to the labour market, housing, social welfare, healthcare, education, training and other supports. This will not remove the right of those persons to apply for international protection, which they will, of course, be allowed to do as well.

Whatever the method used to provide refuge, there are implications for a number of Government Departments and agencies including: the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth as the State would be required to ensure that persons eligible for temporary protection have access to suitable accommodation where needed on arrival; the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and local authorities as the State would be required to ensure those arriving have access to suitable longer-term accommodation or be supported to obtain such accommodation; the Department of Social Protection as those received in Ireland would have entitlement to social welfare supports; the Department of Education as children must have access to education; the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science for access to further and higher education, and to vocational training; and, of course, the Department of Health and the HSE as many, if not all, arriving would be entitled to access healthcare.

Given the potential implications for a wide range of Departments, the Department of the Taoiseach is convening interdepartmental meetings in the coming days to further assess the implications of the activation of a temporary protection measure. This includes the potentially significant resource and staffing implications, and to seek to develop an approach to support Thursday's discussions at the Justice and Home Affairs Council.

The EU and the West generally have been fully united in their strength and resolve in responding to Putin's aggression and to supporting the Ukrainian people. It is important that that message of unity and solidarity goes out from this House today too, and I have no doubt it will. From our perspective in government, we are also taking action possible to help Ukraine and its people. I know we will have the support of the House and the Irish people in doing so.

Ar dtús, ba mhaith liom mo dhlúthpháirtíocht, agus dlúthpháirtíocht Shinn Féin, a léiriú le mhuintir na hÚcráine. Ní féidir le héinne a bhfuil meas acu ar an saoirse, ar cheannasaíocht agus ar an bhféinchinneadh, ach breathnú le huafás ar ghníomhartha na Rúise agus a ceannaire, Vladimir Putin. Níl a leithéid feicthe againn san Eoraip le thart ar ceithre scór bliain anuas. Tuigeann muintir na hÉireann an tionchar a bhfuil ar ionradh eachtrannach agus seasaimid leis an Úcráin ag an tráth seo. Ní thugann gníomhartha na Rúise ach bás agus scrios do thír bhródúil.

I want to start by again extending my solidarity, and the solidarity of all of us in Sinn Féin, with the people of Ukraine. All of us who value freedom, sovereignty and the right to self-determination of free peoples can only look on in horror at the actions of the Russian Federation and its leader, Vladimir Putin, in embarking on the type of invasion that we have not seen in Europe for decades. Ireland, more than most, knows and understands the impact of occupation and imperialist aggression, and we stand with Ukraine as they face down the tyranny of empire.

The actions of Russia bring nothing but death and destruction to a proud country. They are acts that we have regrettably witnessed around the world in modern times - in Iraq, in Afghanistan and in Palestine. They are acts that have no place in the 21st century, period, irrespective of who the aggressor is.

The Charter of the United Nations, the cornerstone of modern international law, prohibits the “use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State”. That must be our starting point and our end point. It must be the goal of the international community, through diplomacy, to bring about a peaceful resolution and to stop this war, and all wars.

James Connolly wrote: “There are no humane methods of warfare, there is no such thing as civilized warfare; all warfare is inhuman; all warfare is barbaric; the first blast of the bugles of war ever sounds for the time being the funeral knell of human progress.”

He was not wrong. However, there is a way out of this. I believe that, as with any conflict, the way out of this is through politics and through dialogue. By dint of our military neutrality, our history of conflict resolution, and our seat on the UN Security Council, particularly as the only European member of the Security Council that is not also a member of NATO, Ireland is uniquely placed in Europe to put the case for an intensification of efforts to find a peaceful pathway forward.

As a militarily neutral country and a country committed to the rule of law, to the success of multilateralism, to democracy and to dialogue, I believe we can play a proactive role in the response of the international community at large. We must step up our supports for those in need of humanitarian aid and our support for those displaced by this conflict. I have no doubt that we will play our full part in accommodating those fleeing Ukraine, as part of a comprehensive Europe-wide, and indeed global response.

I also hope that Ukrainian membership of the EU can be expedited in line with the motion passed overwhelmingly today by the European Parliament.

I want to acknowledge the very many people in Russia who do not want this war. We send them our solidarity as they bravely protest the unjust actions of their leaders. We should acknowledge that this is not an easy thing - in fact, it is a most courageous thing to do in a country that has a dismal human rights record.

It is ordinary people also who will feel the heavy impact of economic sanctions, even when they are correctly targeted predominantly at Russian oligarchs and big business. Those sanctions are, I believe, an absolutely necessary part of the diplomatic effort to make the Russian leadership realise the futility of their actions in invading Ukraine. Vladimir Putin can, even at this late juncture, accept that his actions are entirely unjust, that they are contrary to international law and that he can end this barbarism.

As we move forward from here, there is an onus and a responsibility on us to renew and step up our proud efforts as a State to advance the cause of international nuclear disarmament. Indeed, it should be remembered that Ireland was the first country to sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 1968. Statements and events of recent days serve to remind us that we are never more than minutes away from a chain reaction of missile strikes that threaten the very existence of humankind. For that reason, all nuclear weapons held by all actors must be put beyond use and new measures put in place to ensure that they can never be produced again.

In conclusion, let me state again that we here in Ireland stand with the global community and oppose and condemn Russia’s actions and that we support Ukraine’s right to territorial integrity and its internationally recognised borders. We recognise above all else the rights of Ukrainian women, men and children to their safety and to their homeland. There can be no tolerance for the type of aggression we have seen by a very large, very powerful state against its smaller neighbour. Tá sé sin go hiomlán do-ghlactha dúinn i Sinn Féin, do bhaill an Tí seo, agus don phobal idirnáisiúnta. Tacaím leis an rún atá os ár gcomhair um thráthnóna. This aggression is entirely unacceptable to all of us - to all of us in this House, to the Irish people and to the international community. I, therefore, commend and support the motion before us this afternoon.

Today, as they have been for the last week, our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Ukraine as an aggressive, brutal invasion of their territory takes place and the missiles continue to fall. From the outset, I completely and utterly condemn the actions by the Russian Federation. I want to send a message of solidarity to the many Ukrainian people who have come to Ireland to find a new home. We share their pain at what is happening in their homeland.

Hour by hour, we have witnessed incredible courage and sacrifice by the Ukrainian people in the face of increasingly overwhelming odds as the Russian war machine gears up to escalate the conflict. We have also witnessed many Ukrainian nationals whose sense of duty led them to leave the safety of Ireland and put themselves in harms way to defend their native land. I salute their courage.

The arrogance, disdain and dismissiveness of Vladimir Putin towards the sovereign rights of the people of Ukraine is an affront to the UN charter, democracy, decency and international law. Russian aggression has brought such widespread resolve among democratic nations that there is an appetite to eat the cost of sanctions against Russia whatever that cost may turn out to be.

Russia has attacked a sovereign state. It has brought war to Europe for the first time since the Second World War. It has performed an unthinkable act. More than half a million Ukrainian refugees have attempted to flee the Russian invasion. Some will unfortunately have to make their way to our shores for their protection as they flee from this aggression but I have no doubt that the Irish nation will welcome them with open arms. I also want to commend the efforts of the Irish diplomatic staff and NGO personnel working on the ground in very trying circumstances. Will the Minister update the House on their safety and well-being at this difficult time? A dire humanitarian crisis is developing. It is imperative that we do everything in our power to contribute to the wider humanitarian effort. This should also include the opening of a humanitarian corridor to allow full access for NGOs into Ukraine itself.

There is no doubt that Putin’s actions represent a threat to the rules-based international order. The Russian assault on Ukraine represents a pivot point in history. The ripple effects of the attack and the international response will impact on geopolitical and economic affairs for some time to come. Sinn Féin has been consistent from the outset of this crisis in our adherence to the principles inherent in the United Nations Resolution 68/262 adopted by the General Assembly on 27 March 2014 on the territorial integrity of Ukraine. This 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. I add my voice to the calls urging Russia to withdraw its military forces and to return to discussions within the Normandy format.

I have repeatedly called for the full implementation of the Minsk agreements endorsed by the Security Council in UN Security Council Resolution 2202 in 2015 and do so again here today. We believe that efforts must remain focused to establish this resolution as reality.

The democratic nations of the world are united in their outrage against Russian aggression. Sinn Féin supports the continuing imposition of sanctions against Russia as part of an international response designed to bring an end to Russian aggression. Every possible effort must be expended to bring an end to the conflict.

Unfortunately, this conflict is set to get worse, if the current trend continues. The likelihood is the Russians will get more ruthless. There are going to be many more people killed in the coming days and we cannot just sit down and accept that politics has failed. To do so will be to be forced to observe even more unspeakable suffering.

We in Ireland, along with the wider international community, have a moral obligation to the people of Ukraine to bring every diplomatic pressure to bear on Russia and pursue every avenue to bring this crisis to an end. If we do not, we will be talking of Ukraine in the same breath as Syria, Lebanon or Yemen, to name but a few. Here in Ireland, Sinn Féin for close to two years has been pushing to close off access to section 110 funds for use by the Russian war machine and oligarchs. My colleague, Deputy Mairéad Farrell, has raised this issue in the Dáil on several occasions. She did so first with the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, and then, more importantly, with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe. Deputy Mairéad Farrell followed this up with a letter to the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, about the issue. Unfortunately, no response was forthcoming. The Government has refused to address the connection of the International Financial Services Centre, IFSC, to Russia and that is totally unacceptable. I hope the Minister, Deputy Coveney will be able to inform the House as to whether the sanctions imposed by the EU will finally address this and cut off the €118 billion in funds that has been washed through the IFSC.

Sinn Féin has called for the expulsion of the Russian ambassador to Ireland, Mr. Yuriy Filatov. The Government has offered a rationale for its decision to demur on this for the time being. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, has himself talked of the importance of Ireland acting in unison with our European partners. Ireland is a member of the United Nations Security Council. It secured election to that position predominantly through the votes of many of the non-aligned nations of the world. We sit on the UN Security Council through the gift of non-aligned nations. They look to us to provide leadership, to act in the interests of, and to be the dissenting voice to power of the less powerful. Hence, for Ireland to act unilaterally in expelling the Russian ambassador would not be the act of a lone nation. It would be the action of a nation that has been tasked with providing leadership and example to those nations who have tasked our State with giving voice to the countries who remain outside the power blocs of the various military alliances. When Ireland acts alone, takes a moral stand, and pursues mechanisms designed to exercise diplomatic action in the pursuit of ending violence, our country sends a powerful message. Ireland needs to provide leadership and to provide an example to those non-aligned countries who have placed our country on the UN Security Council. It is our non-aligned status that provides us with the global footprint and soft power beyond anything we could hope to achieve by waiting to follow the examples of alliances.

We can never give up on our attempts to achieve a peaceful solution to any conflict and in this instance, I believe the UN still has a massive role to play in this. We will continue to call for de-escalation, for dialogue and for the UN to have a greater say in attempts to bring about an end to the conflict. I am aware talks are again due to take place this Wednesday between Ukraine and Russia. There must be an immediate ceasefire, the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops and the territorial integrity of Ukraine must be fully respected.

Deputy Brady cannot call for dialogue and then in the same breath call on us to expel the Russian ambassador.

We absolutely can.

It is completely contradictory.

It is called leadership, Minister.

It is completely contradictory and he knows that.

Absolutely not.

Bogaimid ar aghaidh go dtí Páirtí an Lucht Oibre agus an Teachta Howlin.

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. The Labour Party strongly and warmly welcomes this resolution. I thank the Government for responding to last week's request from our leader, Deputy Kelly, for this motion in order that the House could act together and the voice of elected representatives of the people could be very clearly heard.

The last six days have been among the most momentous and frightening in Europe since the end of the Second World War. The settlement we Europeans thought existed, one that underpinned peace on our Continent, has been fundamentally undermined and attacked. This Dáil must be clear and united in our response. We previously heard in statements some few comments beginning with: "Putin is evil but what about ..." There is no space now for whataboutery. The single and clear issue before the House is the invasion of a member state of the UN, which is a sovereign and independent state, by a neighbour with the objective or removing its democratic administration and making it a vassal state. When we spoke about these issues last week I said President Putin's aims are stated clearly. He has not hidden what he intends to do. He wants the restoration of a super-Russian state that reabsorbs into its territory the now-independent former Soviet republics. The views, wishes, hopes and expectations of the citizens of those states are of no interest to Vladimir Putin.

We are watching the news as it unfolds on an hourly basis and today may be a critical one in the conduct of this war of aggression. As we have all seen, hundreds of tanks are within kilometres of the centre of Kyiv. Rockets have landed in the centre of Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv. It is alleged, and I believe it, that cluster bombs, which are banned in many countries, have been deployed against civilian targets. The humanitarian consequences of these actions are horrific and wholly unacceptable.

We have stated repeatedly we stand with the people of Ukraine. In his presentation via video link to the European Parliament earlier, however, the Ukrainian President, Mr. Zelenskyy, gave a real challenge to all of us when he said: "Prove that you are with us". What then can we do? What more can we do? I have a number of suggestions. I am sorry the Minister for Justice has left as I wanted her to hear my direct appeal to her, like the one I made earlier to the Taoiseach. I call for the immediate enactment - and I mean this week - of the Proceeds of Crime (Gross Human Rights Abuses) Bill 2020, the so-called Magnitsky Act, which is on the Order Paper of this Dáil and has passed Second Stage. It aims to expand our existing proceeds of crime legislation, namely, the one that created the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, to take and seize ill-gotten gains and to put the onus of responsibility on those who are holding those gains to explain where they got them and to prove they are legitimate. In the Bill I have proposed we wanted to define certain conduct occurring outside the State, in places like Ukraine and places like Israel, as criminal conduct if that conduct constitutes or is connected with a gross abuse of human rights. Under the Bill, conduct is stated to constitute "a gross human rights abuse if ... it is carried out by, or at the instigation or with the consent or acquiescence of ... public official[s]".

We need to ensure that the pals of Putin who have stashed money all over the world, probably including in this jurisdiction, can have that removed from them. That is the most damaging thing we can do to them. I believe that the Bill has all-party support and a strong move we could make would be to provide time in the House this week to pass its remaining Stages and make it law.

We could also accept refugees from Ukraine. I welcome the Minister for Justice's comment that the temporary protection measure that she outlined is in place, but the numbers she mentioned are tiny so far. Today, the United Nations stated that 660,000 people had left Ukraine for fear of their lives and well-being. The visa requirement to get to Ireland has been removed but we must be more proactive than that. We are on the periphery and our European neighbours are taking in massive numbers of people and are desperately struggling to provide them with accommodation, food and the basics of living. We need to plan - almost on a war footing - for the reception of refugees and for welcoming not only families of Ukrainian nationals resident in Ireland, but many more who need shelter from the ongoing conflict. We need to have clear and unambiguous plans funded and set out.

Yesterday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed an application for EU membership. It is his and his people's declaration that they look towards Europe for their future. It was a massive political statement. We must respond in kind. We must agree to declare Ukraine an EU candidate country, which I understand was the majority decision of the European Parliament in the past 24 hours.

An investigation into potential war crimes has been opened by the International Criminal Court. Let all aggressors take note – there must be a complete and exhaustive examination of their actions in Ukraine. We must tell them clearly now that anyone involved in the war crimes being perpetrated against the innocent people of Ukraine will be held to account. Even if it takes years to do it, we will follow it up. The world community is clear and united in that regard. Hopefully, this will have some impact on reducing the enthusiasm of some of the Putinistas for their ongoing vicious campaign of oppression.

Yesterday, I had the task and great honour of moving a resolution of solidarity with Ukraine at the plenary session of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly in London. Needless to say, it was carried unanimously by representatives of democratic parliaments on all these islands, representing England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. We sent our support to the people of Ukraine and our fellow parliamentarians in the Ukrainian Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. Democracy is often spoken about in all of our assemblies but it is under specific and brutal assault today on our Continent.

It is unclear how this invasion will end, although we already know that nothing will be the same after the attack. All of us in this House and all the people we represent fear for the Ukrainian people in these dark hours. We admire their courage and strength, their resolution and their bravery. We watch in amazement and admiration their courage, as well as the courage of those Russian men and women who have taken to the streets in cities across Russia demanding peace and the withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine.

Russia will take its own course but we – people who are committed to the rule of law and democracy – cannot tolerate a return to a Europe that we thought we had put behind us in previous decades and centuries where aggression, conflict and subjugation existed. Our determined and clear resolve as a Parliament must be to stand with Europe, stand with Ukraine and give a clear message to the valiant people of that benighted country in their hour of great need.

I am sharing time with Deputies Lahart and Devlin.

The decision to invade Ukraine is President Putin's war of choice. His analysis of Russian-Ukrainian relations, published last July, is in effect his war manifesto. In that document, he rejects the concept of Ukrainian independence and Ukrainian sovereignty. In that paper, he asserts his belief that the people of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine are one people and should share one geographical and political space. He talks about Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians as being one family, yet now we see that he has turned his guns on his Ukrainian brothers and sisters.

Four weeks ago, the Russian ambassador, Mr. Yuriy Filatov, speaking before the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, which I chair, said that any invasion of Ukraine would be insane. He repeated the same statement on national television. Last week, his President, Mr. Putin, gave the order to invade Ukraine. Does the ambassador in Dublin now believe that President Putin is insane?

The invasion of Ukraine is the latest in a very long line of Russian and Putin aggression. Look at Chechnya, Georgia, Moldova, Crimea, Syria, Kazakhstan and Belarus. Under his leadership, assassinations, poisonings and oppression of dissent also became his modus operandi. Cyberattacks originating in Russia and interference in elections and the internal politics of many countries have been other common features of Russian aggression. The failure of the Russian political and military elites to restrain him and the failure of the international community to realise the danger he posed emboldened him further. Indeed, President Putin perceived the West as weak and decadent.

In Ukraine, however, President Putin has miscalculated. He has overreached. The international response has been impressive on many fronts and is becoming more effective day by day. Ukrainian resistance is stronger than President Putin had anticipated. Opposition to the war is growing within Russia and will grow even further in the days and weeks ahead.

There is now a clear choice facing the Russian military, political, business and diplomatic establishment - stay with him or remove him from office. If they stay with him, some like President Putin will find themselves, as Deputy Howlin has rightly said, before the International Criminal Court answering for war crimes in Ukraine. I support the gathering of evidence now towards a case against Mr. Putin and his henchmen in the International Criminal Court.

The invasion of Ukraine has been a rude wake-up for many countries in Europe, none more so than Germany. Many believed that trade with Russia would change Russian politics. What has happened instead is that much of Europe has become dependent on Russian gas and Russian dirty money, which has corrupted business and, in some cases, politics in some European countries. There is a danger that change through trade works both ways. Indeed, there have been suggestions of Russian dirty money in Ireland, which need to be assessed and analysed by the Government, which I support on a daily basis.

Ireland's geographical location has protected this country in many ways. It is interesting to compare Ireland's relationship with the UK during 100 years of independence and Russia's relationship with Ukraine's 30 years of independence.

We in Ireland also have been sheltered from external threats by the NATO umbrella. To a large extent, we have enjoyed the luxury of being bystanders as regards security and defence. This approach is no longer a credible option. Ireland's well-being and prosperity is dependent upon the European Union and our positive and strong relations with other western countries, in particular the United States of America. What is worth having is worth defending. As a country we must now be prepared to shoulder a fair share of the burden of European defence and security. The European Union and the United States of America have been strong supporters of Ireland and of the Irish peace process. The European Union in particular, but also the United States of America, have had our back and continue to do so in the crisis relating to the withdrawal of our nearest neighbour, the United Kingdom, from the European Union.

Now is the time for Ireland to look at where it stands on the issue of European security and defence. We recently and coincidentally had the publication of a very wide-ranging and long-awaited independent report on the future of our Defence Forces. It also presents us with an opportunity to answer many of the serious questions that are now being posed on the streets of Ireland as to where we stand and how stand our Defence Forces. These are questions that this Dáil must return to on a regular basis. They are questions that we need to address. In the meantime, I strongly support this motion.

I do not agree with much of the sentiment just expressed and nor would I like to see the situation exploited to that end. I know many of my colleagues would agree with that. It is important to make the point that not so long ago, in the aftermath of the annexation of Crimea, a number of Members of the European Parliament representing parties opposite, whom I will not name because I do not want to politicise the particular debate, criticised the European Union for being overly confrontational towards Russia. They now have to own that and to respond to it in the current context.

I am fairly clear in my own mind as to what Ireland needs to do. We are militarily neutral. As has been stated here, we are a small neutral country on the periphery of Europe. There are a number of issues that need to be addressed in regard to the Russian ambassador. He lied to an Oireachtas committee. He more than likely has lied to the Minister and the Government. He lied to the nation last week. All of that is in regard to this issue. I presume he lied, as did his officials, to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council when the Russian embassy sought to significantly expand its premises and facility on Orwell Road. That is a very valuable lesson for us, particularly in regard to espionage, our data centres and our cybersecurity.

While I accept the Tánaiste's comments earlier today with regard to the importance of maintaining diplomatic connections, relations and channels, particularly in the interests of protecting Irish citizens both in Ukraine and in Russia, he will understand that the impulse in regard to the call for the expulsion of the Russian ambassador and the initiative arose out of a sense of powerlessness and anger in the face of Russian actions. We can certainly expel the bulk of the Russian team at the embassy, particularly its spying team, listeners and that section of its diplomatic corps. I also think the Taoiseach needs to call in the ambassador soon and give him a dressing down, not least in regard to the lies he told the Government and the people of this country.

Enough on that. I will move now to what we can do as a militarily neutral country with a very proud record in regard to humanitarian support and relief of other countries. I hear a lot of words here today. I know they are incredibly well-meaning but on occasions like this I cannot help but be reminded of the scene in the "Life of Brian" when the committee gets together and there are proposers, seconders, alternative motions and further motions and the crisis has passed before they get out of the meeting room and no solid action has been taken. What does a militarily neutral country do? We got our lead today from Adi Roche that we need to send money and support. Clearly, we cannot send ships but we can send shiploads of relief supplies. The Government must not just support NGOs in doing this; it must lead on it. We cannot send soldiers but we can send volunteers to assist with refugees. Again, the Government must lead on this and not just depend solely on NGOs to lead on it. The Government needs to facilitate it. We cannot send tanks and trucks but we can send truckloads of supplies, comfort, food and humanitarian aid. The Government needs to lead and facilitate this. We cannot send warplanes but we can send aeroplanes to transport those refugees to safety and to our shores. The Government must lead and facilitate in this regard.

Let us accept our conscious decision in regard to military neutrality, but take control of what we can take control of. Let us use the power that we have, which is tremendous human power and good will, and put it to good effect.

I concur and support much of what has been said by my colleague, Deputy Lahart. Like all Deputies across this House, the Irish people and almost everyone around the world, have been shocked and truly appalled by the illegal war of aggression being waged by Russia and now Belarus on the people of Ukraine. The war is a clear breach of the United Nations Charter. It is causing untold suffering for the people of Ukraine and it is creating a human catastrophe in Europe. Over 650,000 Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes, families have been split, people have lost everything. We are hearing stories of men in particular being asked to remain, choosing fighting over their families. It churns the stomach of the Irish people that this could happen again on the Continent of Europe when we thought we were living in a time of peace.

Russia’s prosecution of the war has been appalling. The use of cluster munitions and other weapons on an indiscriminate basis against residential areas constitutes war crimes. These crimes must be investigated. I support the calls of other Deputies in that regard. The international community and particularly the European Union cannot stand idly by while a democratic state with a rich cultural and social history is snuffed out.

I welcome multilateral sanctions against the Russian regime by the EU and other nations. I welcome commitments today by several party leaders across the House with regard to the need to facilitate Ukraine’s membership of the EU. Efforts earlier today by some Irish MEPs to frustrate the process for reasons known only to them were bizarre and shameful. On a practical basis, Ireland should do everything it can to assist the people of Ukraine in their hour of need. I welcome the lifting of visa requirements for Ukrainians coming to Ireland, the establishment of a relief fund and plans to support Ukrainians fleeing to Ireland in a special refugee programme. Efforts by individuals and groups across Ireland should also be acknowledged.

It would be remiss not to recognise those brave Russian citizens who have come out to protest the illegal war against their neighbours in Ukraine. Like all of us, they are disgusted. I support this motion. It demonstrates the resolve of this House and the Irish people. Even at this late stage, like all Members of the House, I would like to see Russia and Belarus do the right thing. They can and should do that.

I welcome the motion. Our thoughts are with all those who are so terribly affected and impacted. The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, rightly criticised the actions of the Putin regime as unacceptable and illegal.

He stated that we need to be part of the response to that. I agree. Of course, how we respond is what matters. We are citizens of a neutral country which often punches way above its weight in international affairs. It is great to see the EU solidarity on this matter but, of course, accountability starts at home. It is about what we can do in the here and now and what changes we can effect. It is no secret that the IFSC is a major offshore financial centre for people linked to Putin. Gazprom, Rosneft and VTP in the state sector and major oligarch-controlled entities such as Alfa-Bank, EuroChem and Rusal are but a few of the companies involved. They all have special purpose vehicles located in the IFSC. They have no employees, offices or fixed assets and they pay no tax. Nevertheless, between 2005 and 2017, those shell companies funnelled €118 billion from the IFSC to Russia. Many of the companies that received those funds had been accused of serious wrongdoing. For example, Credit Bank of Moscow required a major bailout. Approximately 50% of its loans were to its management. Promsvyazbank had to be nationalised and its former owners were accused of being the ones buying their own debt. A quick look through some of the prospectuses for their bonds listed on the Irish Stock Exchange are striking. The section which lists risks includes reference to the fact that the measures implemented to prevent it from being used as a conduit for money laundering or terrorist financing may not be completely effective.

We know that following the imposition of sanctions in 2016 and 2017, some IFSC-based companies managed to raise finance on behalf of companies under those sanctions, as was well covered in the media over the past four years. Yet nothing happened. I have been raising this matter with the Government since 2020. In September 2020, I raised the matter with the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, who said it would be a matter for the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, to address. I heard nothing thereafter. Shortly after I raised the matter with the Minister of State, one shell company connected to the now sanctioned bank Sovcombank issued a bond for €300 million. Its prospectus, listed on the Irish Stock Exchange, mentions risks from the sanctions imposed by foreign governments, including sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities.

In March 2021, the now sanctioned bank Alfa-Bank issued a bond of €1.2 billion. It also noted risks from economic sanctions. I raised this matter with the Minister for Finance when he was before the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach two months later and he told me he was not in a position to give an answer, which is understandable, but that he would write to me. He did not do so. I then wrote to him at the end of that month but I never received a reply. I am sorry, but that is not good enough.

We need to be a part of the response. I welcome what is being done and what has been done. We absolutely do need to be a part of the response. However, we need to ensure the IFSC is not used for the purposes of sanction-busting. Are we going to continue to allow anonymous company ownership which uses legal trustees because these non-transparent structures create significant risks of abuse? Because of the trustee ownership, it can be difficult to see-----

As a matter of accuracy, I am told the Deputy did get a detailed reply from the Minister for Finance. It is important to correct the record in that respect.

I have not seen it.

I will follow up afterwards just to make sure that is the case.

That is no problem at all.

I am not having a go at the Deputy.

That is fair enough. It is always good to have accuracy.

Will the statutory company information in the Companies Registration Office, CRO, be made free, as it is in Companies House in Britain? Are we going to continue to allow these Russian-connected companies operate tax free because they can avail of the section 110 tax concession? Are we going to introduce any kind of accountability to that small network of professional services, including legal and accountancy firms that service them? These are the primary beneficiaries of these Russian-connected shell companies. These things have been brought to light in the context of the invasion of Ukraine. We need to consider whether a cost-benefit analysis can be done around the use of section 110 tax concessions, which allow these companies, and many others, to operate largely tax free. With the current reforms in the international tax regime, a tax concession for non-residents such as this seems completely out of step.

We are more than happy to work with the Minister. Indeed, we think that is crucial and it is good to see everyone working together on this issue. However, if we want to provide a deterrent to the Putin regime and its connected oligarchs, we need to aim for their pockets and look at what has happened in the IFSC.

On behalf of the Social Democrats, I condemn in the strongest possible terms the illegal invasion of Ukraine by the Putin regime. The attacks on civilians, the use of rockets and bombs on civilian targets, the brutal murder of children, the use of cluster bombs and the war crimes that are happening need to be condemned by all of us in the strongest possible terms. It is important that we stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and, indeed, the people in Russia who have been bravely protesting against this war. We must also support the Ukrainian community in Ireland and everybody in eastern Europe and Asia who lives with the constant threat of Russian aggression.

This is not just an attack on the Ukrainian people; it is also an attack on democracy, international law and a rules-based international system - things which we all hold dear. It is also an attack on the system which has a simple tenet that countries cannot take by force the territory of other countries. It is important that we all stand in unity against that.

It is also important that we do what we can, as other Deputies have stated. We must focus on what can be done to support the people of Ukraine. While it is welcome that the Russian war crimes that are being committed will be investigated by the International Criminal Court, there is a need for urgent action now. This is no time for half measures. I support the calls that have been made by Deputies from different parties across this House for the immediate expulsion of the Russian ambassador. I have heard and appreciate the reasons that have been given for not doing that. If we expel the ambassador, we can expect a reciprocal move and the expulsion of our ambassador from Russia. However, that would not necessarily mean that all diplomatic ties and presences would have to be removed as part of that.

All Irish-domiciled Russian assets need to be frozen and seized immediately and all forms of trade with Russia should be ceased immediately. The harshest possible economic sanctions are needed. According to Eoin Burke-Kennedy, a credible commentator writing in The Irish Times, the sanctions were carefully crafted to avoid major economic fallout. That is a very serious charge he has made. He has stated that economic self-interest is inhibiting the level of the sanctions going through. Other commentators have said that the expulsion of only some of the Russian banks from the SWIFT system does not go far enough.

At this point, we need to end all business and trade with Russia. Everyone doing business with Russia, including those buying oil or gas, holding investments, engaged in commercial arrangements or sitting on boards, is contributing to Putin's war chest. Anyone involved in that is fuelling the invasion of Ukraine. Pension funds and companies should divest now. Members of boards should resign. It all needs to stop now. That signal needs to come clearly from everybody who stands against the invasion.

Some €34 billion is held by Russian-linked shell companies registered with the IFSC. Between 2005 and 2017, according to research by Cillian Doyle and Jim Stewart, €118 billion was funnelled through the IFSC by Russian entities through so-called section 110 trusts. There must be no more sheltering of Russian money through the IFSC.

We can also be strong in our support of the people of Ukraine through our humanitarian response. We should have the strongest possible humanitarian response to support everybody who is fleeing from war and the civilian population remaining in Ukraine.

Food supplies will be of critical importance because it will be a matter of only days before food runs out in some areas. While we have heard from the Government about some of the measures that will be taken, we have not been given details of how that level of humanitarian assistance will be provided in terms of what needs to be done in the coming days. It is important that we hear more in this regard.

It will be done mostly through international organisations. That is what is being asked for in terms of achieving central co-ordination. The challenge now is getting in and out.

I appreciate that. We would like to hear more about it as and when the Minister is able to provide the information.

It is welcome that the European Union will trigger the temporary protection directive and that Ireland will, from what the Government has said, participate fully in it. That is important. The visa waiver is another important move. It was deeply frustrating to members of the Ukrainian community in Ireland, however, that it came only with the outbreak of war and the invasion of their country. A number of them were pleading with the Government to make it easier for people, including their family members, to come to Ireland before war broke out, while there were still flights coming here from Ukraine.

People need certainty in terms of what will happen next. I welcome the indication from the Minister for Justice that Ukrainian citizens will be able to work and contribute fully to Irish society when they come here. Very significant resources will have to be put in place to provide shelter and other supports. I welcome the comments by the Taoiseach earlier indicating that the scale of the response will be unprecedented and on a level not contemplated before. That certainly is needed. Last Thursday, the Tánaiste gave a commitment to provide practical assistance to people fleeing from Ukraine. We need more information on what that practical assistance will be. Ireland can and should be organising flights out of eastern Poland for people who want to come here, especially those looking to be reunited with their families who are living here, whether they are Ukrainian citizens, Irish citizens or otherwise. Getting to the eastern part of Poland is a huge journey, trauma and ordeal for people. If they manage to get that far, we should be providing assistance to them. We must do everything we can to support the Ukrainian community in Ireland in its moment of need.

There have been disturbing reports of the mistreatment of African students in their attempts to leave Ukraine. It is critically important that everyone fleeing war is treated equally. There must be no repeat of the treatment of Syrian refugees, some of whom have been waiting in Beirut for up to two years, having been promised support in terms of coming to Ireland. They say they have received very little communication or support.

This really is a time for us, as a country, to do everything we can in terms of our humanitarian response. The people of Ireland and the Members of this House support that very strongly. We must do everything we can to support the people of Ukraine. We must do all we can to support those who are under attack at this moment, including very strong humanitarian support for people in that country. I appreciate the Minister's comments regarding this being done at an international level. We will want to hear more information about what specifically Ireland is doing in that regard. We can play a leadership role in this, which is what people want to see.

Russia has embarked on a full-scale invasion of Ukraine since we debated this situation in the Dáil six days ago. The Russian war is illegal and a serious violation of international law. Russia's attack is totally unjustified and Ireland and the EU are right to demonstrate steadfast support for Ukrainians' rights to sovereignty and territorial integrity. Peace has been shattered and the horror of war and war crimes have been visited on Europe once again. This has resulted in unprecedented solidarity on the part of the EU in support of the Ukrainian people. I welcome that. Despite a little hesitation by a few member states late last week, the EU has since adopted the most comprehensive package of sanctions ever in the case of Russia. I am proud that Ireland supported this extensive package from the outset, including the exclusion of key Russian banks from SWIFT.

It is important that the Dáil should carefully consider the implications of the agreement last weekend by EU foreign ministers in respect of the European peace facility. This is a significant shift for the Union, or a watershed moment, as the President of the European Commission described it. The European peace facility is a new EU programme, agreed last year, on security and defence. Given our traditional peacekeeping role and long-standing policy that no Irish funds shall be spent on weapons, it is right that Ireland abstained constructively on the lethal weapons package and supported the non-lethal weapons proposals. Ukraine certainly is an exceptional case but there must be ongoing scrutiny of the European peace facility by the Oireachtas and clear guidelines on its future use in another context.

What are we to do about the calls for a breaking off of diplomatic relations with Russia and the expulsion of its ambassador to Ireland? Irish people are horrified by the lies Yuriy Filatov has told in recent weeks, culminating in his outrageous interview with David McCullagh on RTÉ's "Six One News" last Friday. In these circumstances, I had no hesitation in saying at the weekend that this man is not welcome in Ireland. I hear what the Government is saying about the value of keeping diplomatic channels open between Dublin and Moscow but I am not sure about that. We certainly should expel a number of Russian diplomats and so-called operatives in the coming days. I am glad the expulsion of the ambassador is still under consideration, having regard to the ongoing work on co-ordinated action at EU level. I look forward to receiving the Minister's advice on this ongoing situation in due course.

We have a humanitarian crisis on our EU borders. It is heart-breaking to view the emotional scenes at the borders of Poland, Moldova, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, where families are being broken up and women and children try desperately to reach the security barriers. Millions of Ukrainians are being displaced. We need to put in place special refugee programmes here in Ireland, in conjunction with the EU, to assist Ukrainians fleeing this war. I welcome the measures in this regard announced by the Minister for Justice earlier in the House. We must show full solidarity with the people of Ukraine at this very difficult time.

I thank the Minister for his statement. More than half a million people, most of them women and children, have already fled Ukraine. It is the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War. In this age of social media, we are watching the horror unfold on our devices. I was especially concerned to hear 19-year-old Rachel from Carlow, a medical student in Ukraine, tell her experience today. We need the Minister's assistance to get her home. I have emailed him and the Taoiseach on this matter and I have more information to give them. We need to get Rachel home.

It is welcome that Ireland is waiving visa requirements for Ukrainians fleeing the war. This has been a vital comfort to the Ukrainian community here in Ireland, including for families in Carlow and Kilkenny. We must ask the good people in our communities to express their solidarity by offering, if they are in a position to do so, to take in Ukrainian refugees as part of the EU's humanitarian response to the conflict. These same communities, including those in Carlow and Kilkenny, have already set up donation stations to help. There is a huge amount of goodwill within communities, with a large number of stations established to raise funding and collect food and clothing.

One has to congratulate communities for the efforts they are making and it is important that we recognise the work they do and we are helping. Our State facilities will not be enough and we need to accept this. This is a war effort and while we are neutral, we are human and we should do everything we can to help those displaced by this.

The invasion by Russia on innocent people in Ukraine is horrific. I appreciate that we must keep diplomatic channels open and that we are a small country but can we not lead the EU in expelling the Russian ambassador from our country and support other countries in taking the same action? This aggression by Russia will cause untold hardship and tragedy for the Government and people of Ukraine, who have shown remarkable resilience and resolve. I admire Mr. Zelenskyy, who has shown such leadership to his people. A father himself, he does what he does for his family and country. I was moved by his appeal to the European Union today and I know I am not alone. We must not leave them alone out there and we all recognise that. The people of Ukraine are our family and we must answer his call for help by offering them the humanitarian support they will need. I want to applaud the Department of Foreign Affairs for its support of those members of Irish Families Through Surrogacy with children just born in Ukraine. They are our families too. The help we give will be vital now. I know the Minister is working hard on this but we need to give every support we can. What is happening in Ukraine is horrific.

I am delighted to see this motion coming through the House and being brought by the Government. I am speaking in support of it, as are my party and the Government. I have long raised questions in this Chamber and elsewhere as to the actions of certain states, particularly Russia. It is not so long ago that I was engaging with the Minister on the Russian elections, the treatment of Alexei Navalny and other opponents, and what I saw as an attack on democracy that played out in Russia. We saw similar activity in Belarus, where we have sympathy for the exiled opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who has Irish connections. In Poland, Hungary and other places we have seen attacks on democracy, the rule of law, academic freedom, media freedom and freedom of expression. All the norms that western liberal democracy might have come to take for granted in the past 20 or 30 years have been eroded and attacked. Perhaps the final frontier of conventional military warfare was then engaged in recent days, much to the horror of all in this Chamber I hope and certainly of myself and the Committee on Foreign Affairs, of which I am a member.

I heard Deputy Flanagan speak earlier and I have been corresponding with him in recent days as well about the position of the Russian ambassador. I note the Government’s position on that and I realise there are complications but I want to say, and I have said this in the committee, when the ambassador came before us he misled the committee to put it mildly. He laughed off our concerns and described them as a James Bond conspiracy. He spoke about the idea of Russia invading Ukraine as being insane. I asked him how insane it was when Crimea was invaded six years previously and they have gone back and done the same thing again. It is abhorrent that such contempt was shown to the committee, the Dáil and Irish sovereignty.

I will speak to the issue of Irish sovereignty on a related point and again I recently raised this in the committee and in other media. Our concept of neutrality is outdated. We have a sacred cow and it is a traditional idea that we would shy away from any conflict or confrontation. I appreciate that provides us with something of a position as an honest broker but it is also outdated in a world where warfare does not always come with tanks crossing our borders. Warfare comes with marine presence in our exclusive economic zone; a cyberattack on our national health system; interference with data lines, communications and transmissions, be those under the sea or in data centres scattered across the country; interference with our economic interests and by threatening and jeopardising investment in the country; and by disrupting elections and the free expression of people at the ballot box, be that through referendums or elections. All of those factors play into the new and modern hybrid warfare and I am convinced we have been subject to that by Russia and others who have sought to interfere in many ways. Why do they do that? They do that because it is in their economic and political interests. Anything that can disrupt a western state is positive for certain countries that are outside of that alliance. It is as easily and simply done as interfering with social media and running reverse algorithms, as has been done repeatedly and this has been well-documented in votes such as Brexit and the 2016 US elections. I firmly believe this has happened on many occasions here also and I do not see it as being particularly contested that this has happened. It is time to think long and hard about our position, about how we defend ourselves and about how we recognise the forms of attack that can come into being. I suggest that the State has been already subjected to this.

I listened to some of the contributions from around the House earlier and there were some good contributions from all sides. I noticed a preponderance from the Sinn Féin benches to throw the ball back at the Government about various accounts and mechanisms in the IFSC and how various different investments could be frozen or moved on. The EU is doing all of that and more and we are doing that as part of the EU. I would say to Sinn Féin that it is easy to suggest that something can be done and the Government has already spoken about the complexity of some of these matters. It is complex to take on board the difficult financial tapestry of the IFSC; various funds and cross funds and legislation may be proposed that can tackle that. Perhaps that is a good thing and perhaps something should be done but it cannot happen overnight. What can happen overnight is a vote and Sinn Féin representatives in Europe have already spoken about their actions and votes. In fact, its MEP rejected a call from across Europe to safeguard Ukraine’s position, respect its borders and vindicate its independence before Christmas. It is disappointing for representatives of the same party to come into this House, having refused the opportunity and being among a small minority that did so in the European Parliament in December, and throw the ball back at the Government about various complex financial manoeuvres that they know full well cannot be taken overnight. There is hypocrisy in that, albeit I welcome their late conversion to the pattern. There may have been ideological alignment with previous regimes in Russia and that may be at the heart of that.

In any event, I commend the motion and I am delighted to support it. We need to take seriously the notion of modern hybrid warfare. The war that has been conducted is being conducted in cyberspace, social media and traditional media as much as it has been conducted on the ground in Ukraine. Who is winning is a function of who one is following, not necessarily of the facts on the ground. The facts on the ground are debated and I would not take for granted that Ukraine’s position is so strong. Russia made significant progress and that is of concern to us all.

I welcome this motion. Last week we debated the issue of Ukraine in the House and none of us could have imagined that within 24 hours we would see tanks crossing the border and rolling into Ukraine. It is a despicable and sinister act by a determined dictator in Russia, Vladimir Putin. The last time we were here we discussed the notion that “Might is right” and he is pushing that to its limits. While conflict across Europe was something we had hoped we would never see again, we have to recognise that for the past hundreds of years conflict around the globe has been always happening as long as people have thought that greed made it appropriate to conquer and subdue others, take over countries and take wealth and pull that away. The essence of that is the notion of imperialism and that is what Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation are about; it is an imperialist state which is flexing its muscles. Our hearts go out to the people who are losing their lives, the families who are fleeing and the hundreds of thousands who are trying to cross the border into Poland and other countries to try to get to safety. Our heart and spirit are also with the people of Ukraine, so many of whom are resisting and putting up a strong fight against Russia. Yet, we see a 17 km long convoy of people travelling towards Kyiv, which poses difficulty and which will cause problems for all of the people there if the bombardment of Kyiv is as strong as that would suggest.

I take the points that many Members have made about the Russian ambassador and his performance in the committee last week. In effect, he lied to the committee and the people of Ireland as to the intentions of Russia and of course people are angry about that. I also take the Minister’s point that we have to be careful not to break off diplomatic relations. However, we are all aware that in every conflict in the world there are always back channels and ways of getting things done and sorting out things. Publicly, we have to make a stand and that stand could be clearly made in Ireland. The Russian ambassador's performance and what he did here fly in the face of the common decency one would expect from a diplomat coming to represent a country.

For such a diplomat to come to a neutral country, such as Ireland, and behave in that way, laugh off the prospect of an invasion and describe it as insane and for it to happen the very next day, calls into question his credibility. If the Russian ambassador's credibility is in question, it would be appropriate to call him in and expel him and other Russian diplomats from Ireland at this time.

I appreciate the Minister will say that could have the effect of us losing our embassy in Moscow. However, we have to recognise that we have a crisis situation here. It is an absolute crisis for millions of people in Ukraine and people throughout Europe who are terrified of what will happen when this goes all the way. There is always the possibility that this can change. However, if the Russians continue on the track on which they are going and conquer and hold Ukraine, as many imperialists have found in the past, it is sometimes easier to conquer a country than it is to hold it and I am sure the Russians will have that same experience.

However, we hope we can have a solution here to turn this around. Certainly, what we have seen happen in Moscow and in other cities throughout Russia where ordinary Russians have gone out to protest and to say this is wrong and to call for a different way forward gives heart that, perhaps, there can be a change. Yet, we know that people can be so easily led in the wrong way. Many Russians are certainly being led in the wrong way by Vladimir Putin and by what he is doing and the wrong and negative direction in which he is taking the Russian people. It flies in the face of good international relations we have built up for so long.

The United Nations has a key role to play. We need to use our position on the UN Security Council to maximum benefit. It is true to say we have quite a unique space there as a neutral country and we should use it to the maximum. In that context, I offer our full support to any diplomatic efforts that have been made by the Minister, other diplomats, his Department and the Government, because we are all in this together. We all recognise that what has happened here has been absolutely tyranny for the people of Ukraine and Europe. We need to put every effort into trying to resolve this.

We must also offer as much humanitarian support as possible. People in Ireland, as ever, are more generous than anyone could ever imagine. In every village and town throughout the country, we see people put their hands in their pockets and talk about having collections and assisting and welcoming people from Ukraine to Ireland, as we have always done. Ireland as the country of welcomes is certainly something we need to bring to the fore at this time.

I move amendment No. 1:

To insert the following after "good offices to search for a peaceful settlement"

"— further calls for Ireland to provide increased humanitarian aid for the people of Ukraine and for Ireland to offer refuge for all people fleeing the war;

— further condemns the arrests and persecution of anti-war protestors by President Putin and the Russian state; salutes the bravery of the growing anti-war protests in Russia; and calls for support across the world for further mobilisation of anti-war movements in Russia and worldwide as the best hope for a peaceful resolution of the conflict and avoidance of the risk of war between major powers;

— further notes the risk of nuclear conflict out of Ukraine and calls on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to de-escalate its military presence and withdraw battlegroups and missiles in Eastern Europe; and

— further reaffirms that Ireland is a militarily neutral State, that it will maintain a policy of non-membership of military alliances, that it will not participate in any war or armed conflict nor aid foreign powers in any way in preparation for, or in the conduct of, war or armed conflict, including through the mechanism of the European Union, without prior assent of Dáil Éireann"

The situation developing in Ukraine is both horrendous and quite terrifying. The assault by Putin and his forces on Ukraine is barbaric, foul and obscene and must be condemned. It comes from a regime that has a long and brutal history of warmongering and despotism, whether it is suppressing dissent towards the regime by the Russian population or the bloody wars in Chechnya, Georgia and Moldova.

I was at the United States Embassy protesting last night. I recalled the fact that in 1999, I stood outside that same embassy with very few people, it should be said, protesting against the Russian slaughter in Chechnya which claimed the lives of 50,000 to 80,000 people, but was little remarked on in the western world at the time. It is vitally important we extend our solidarity to the Ukrainian people whose suffering is unspeakable. We must do absolutely everything to extend humanitarian assistance, solidarity and support to Ukrainian people and defend, absolutely, their right to resist this brutal invasion of their country.

We believe the Government's motion is one sided because it does not, as our amendment does, allude to hope in this rather dark and grim situation - the Russian anti-war movement of ordinary Russians that has exploded on to the streets. It proves that huge numbers of Russians do not stand behind Putin and oppose everything he is doing. We must do absolutely nothing to undermine that movement of opposition to Mr. Putin but, rather, do everything we can to support and nurture that heroic resistance.

Most important, we must not pour petrol on this dangerous fire which could be inflamed to the terrifying, unthinkable point of the use of nuclear weapons, or deliberate or accidental catastrophes at nuclear power plants in that area. It is critical we warn against any escalation. As a neutral country, we have to be proactive in arguing against forces that wish to escalate this situation or seek to use it to encourage militarisation, war and arms expenditure as a solution to the terrifying and dangerous situation we are witnessing in Ukraine. That is why we think it is critically important to mention NATO.

That is not to excuse Putin's behaviour. However, it was absolutely inevitable after the eastward expansion of NATO and the act of recruiting countries into a nuclear military alliance with a bloody history in Afghanistan and a history of bombing in Libya and whose major powers have been and are, as we speak, guilty of engaging in warmongering around the world. They are not the allies of the Ukrainian people and, most certainly, should not be the allies of this country, as a neutral country.

Our job should be to argue against warmongering; involvement in military alliances, the arms industry and military expenditure and to urge peace and dialogue as the way to settle conflicts. I cannot help-----

What if the situation calls for it?

The Minister, Deputy Coveney, will have his chance. I cannot help but call out the double standards, unless the Government will surprise me tomorrow. Instantly, it wants to and has imposed sanctions against Putin for crimes against humanity, which he is committing. They are crimes against humanity.

I ask the Minister to hold on and not to interrupt.

Has the Deputy read the motion? It is a UN motion.

Deputy Boyd Barrett should not answer him. He should just stay above it.

Amnesty International is calling for sanctions against Israel for crimes against humanity and today we had a briefing from people from Yemen who talked about the direct involvement of the USA in supporting Saudi Arabia to commit crimes against humanity in Yemen. There is not a word about those things, but active support for the countries that do it or at least trenchant opposition to sanctions. Double standards will not help the people of Ukraine or help to end the scourge of war and militarism.

I extend our deepest solidarity with and support to the Ukrainian people. They are now the victims of war crimes carried out by Putin's army. There is no justification for this imperialist invasion. Russian troops should be withdrawn immediately and all refugees fleeing from Ukraine should be welcome into the EU and Ireland.

I will address the campaign from large sections of the establishment to paint anyone who opposes escalation and the risk of nuclear war as, in some way, pro-Putin. It is a disgusting slur designed to silence opponents of war in order to further the plans on display in this debate today to undermine Ireland's neutrality. The idea that we are in some way soft on Putin is patently ridiculous. One should look at the record.

Who condemned Putin's horrendous invasion of Chechnya? While Mr. Tony Blair rolled out the red carpet for Putin during that war, the socialist left opposed it. Who spoke out against Putin's jailing of Pussy Riot and the repression of LGBTQ activists? It was the left. Who is on the streets in Russia in protest against the war right now? A Putin ally in the Duma has called them Trotskyists and left scum. Of course, it is much broader than the organised left.

I want to be very clear. It is not pro-Putin to say we do not want an escalation and to point out the dangers of a spiral towards an all-out war between nuclear powers, or to say we are against sanctions that are already having a devastating effect on the lives of Russian people. It is not pro-Putin to oppose the one-sided nature of this motion, with no mention of NATO expansion into eastern Europe, no mention of the rights of minorities in Ukraine and no commitment to Ireland's continued non-membership of NATO.

I want to express my solidarity with the people of Ukraine. We have watched our television screens in horror as their country has been invaded, their cities attacked, homes destroyed and their lives taken or shattered. I state my support for the right of the ordinary Ukrainian people to defend themselves and resist, arms in hand, the invaders who threaten their homes and lives. It is for the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian people alone to decide their own future, with a right to self-determination for minorities.

I condemn this invasion. The Putin regime is murderous. It employs force at home to enforce its dictatorial rule over its own people and force abroad to advance it imperialist objectives, namely, its lust for power and profit. Russian troops must be withdrawn back to their barracks in Russia and out of Ukraine.

I oppose those in the ruling classes in the West who would exploit this crisis to advance their imperialist and militarist objectives. This includes the German Government, which plans to immediately treble its spending on arms. It also includes the US political and military establishment, which plays the lead role in NATO and which killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people in a war for oil.

I also oppose the agenda of this Irish Government, which seeks to align its foreign policy more closely with NATO. Despite the comments made by Deputy Lahart in this debate, the comments of Deputy Flanagan in the House and the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, on the radio show the real agenda, which will be opposed from this section of the House.

I salute those brave Russian people who have taken to the streets to oppose this war. I note that 1 million Russian people have signed petitions again the war. Petitions will not stop Putin, of course, but 1 million people in the streets of Russia will represent not only a massive challenge to the war itself, but quite possibly, the beginning of the end of the Putin regime. Protests and strikes on the streets of Russia marked the beginning of the end of the First World War, tsarist rule and capitalism in that country. I hope that historical example can be repeated.

In conclusion, I call on workers and young people in this country to take inspiration from the heroism of ordinary Ukrainians and follow the example of the Russian anti-war movement, and take to the streets here in massive numbers to say "No" to this war and build an anti-war movement. That is something we need now in every country of the world.

I greatly appreciate the opportunity to contribute to this very important debate and state my absolute support for this motion and the efforts the Government is making in this regard. In the few brief minutes I have before I share time with colleagues, I will hit on three points because we can have a discussion on so many different aspects that require attention.

The first call I will make is for the Irish Government, in particular, to work with European partners directly on addressing the very real disinformation campaign that is being used by the Russian Government to undermine the efforts of the government in Ukraine to protect its people and, indeed, the efforts of many people in Russia to access the truth.

That measures have been taken on Sputnik today to ban Russia from the airwaves in the EU is welcome. Much more can be done by social media companies in particular, however. It was easy enough for them to ban Donald Trump's Twitter account and yet they are not being half as proactive when it comes to tackling the propaganda from Putin sympathisers across social media. The fact that so many of these social media companies are headquartered in Ireland behoves us to lead in the European Union to take a much stronger line.

I appreciate the response from the Government to calls from many Deputies on this side of the House and, indeed, the other side, to expel the Russian ambassador and all 31 of his diplomats currently working in the Russian Embassy in my constituency of Dublin Rathdown. I fundamentally repeat that call, however. The Russian ambassador simply cannot be welcome in this State while Russia continues its illegal and bloody invasion of Ukraine.

I have a particular concern about the continuing presence of not one but two defence attachés in the Russian Embassy in this State, an embassy which has previously had diplomats expelled from here on suspicion of espionage. The British Government only has one defence attaché. We have much more work dealing with the British on defence matters due to the memorandum of understanding as well as historic reasons and yet the Russians have two attachés. It is a very suspicious approach to take.

Unlike others, I fundamentally support and agree with every word spoken by and comment made by my party colleague, Deputy Flanagan, earlier in this debate. He is right; rather than taking advantage, he is talking about a realistic concern that many of us in this country - a majority, in fact, if one looks at opinion polling - have with regard to our security and defence capabilities. The fact that this country was the victim of a vicious cyberattack in August, by all accounts due to non-government operators with the protection of the Russian Government should be telling for all of us that we cannot simply continue to defend ourselves alone.

The final point I will make is that the decision taken by the Irish Government to only partially support the European package for the Ukrainian Government earlier this week was a complete and utter cop out. There is nothing stopping the Irish Government supporting the funding of the supply of lethal weapons to the Ukrainian army and people, every man and woman. If we were in Ukraine today, all the men sitting in this House would be called up to defend the country. That is what they are facing. They cannot defend it with lights, flags, solidarity and all the nice things that are worthy. What they really need is Javelin missiles and our support to ensure they can defend their homes and children. We have all seen the horrific images. Putin is now attacking civilian facilities and using cluster bombs. He is engaging in the sorts of war crimes I hope will one day see him in the Hague.

I strongly support today's motion. I want to express solidarity with the Ukrainian people following an outrageous breach of international law by the Russian Federation.

The images of refugees pouring into neighbouring EU countries, families separating at borders and civilians being targeted by cluster bombs are all stark, and reminiscent of images we hoped Europe would not see again. This is an aggressive and hostile infringement of the sovereign integrity of Ukraine. Ireland is militarily neutral but we are not neutral when it comes to egregious breaches of human rights and democratic norms in the Ukraine or anywhere else. We have a proud tradition of military neutrality but we also have a proud tradition of independent foreign policy.

I welcome the package of sanctions against Russia and assistance provided to Ukraine, in particular, and the speed with which these were approved following last week's invasion. Three packages have been announced in just the last few days, which include removing air access, removing banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, SWIFT, system, sanctions against key individuals, sanctions against Belarus and limiting the propaganda power of Russia's puppet media. Every one of these sanctions is a two-edged sword. They will impact Russian interests but will also have an impact on Irish and EU interests. However, we take them because we deem them to be necessary and justified. I believe there is more we can do as a country to express our solidarity with Ukraine.

In 2018, we expelled Russian diplomats following the poisoning incident in the UK. The events of this week, when the Russian ambassador used our airwaves to spread lies and disinformation, and Russia invaded a sovereign nation and is targeting civilians in what could amount to war crimes, are incidents that I believe are at least comparable with the 2018 incident in the UK and, in reality, are far more grave.

It is, therefore, time that we moved to expel their diplomats from Ireland again. Like other sanctions, it will have consequences, but we should not be shy about taking the right decision. Diplomacy is the formalised communication between nations, including the ultimate communication to sever that relationship. It is ultimately a call for our Government. In my view, however, all EU countries should expel Russian diplomats. That is without prejudice to the EU as a block maintaining a diplomatic relationship that may be required to build a peaceful solution.

In the very short time remaining, I must mention the triple lock mechanism, which I supported, that guarantees our military neutrality and multilateral approach to foreign policy. However, it also hands Russia, China, Great Britain or the United States a veto on this State taking any military action, even on this island, because they are permanent members of the UN Security Council. This Dáil must ask itself whether we believe our sovereignty is best served by the interests of those nations.

This is a question that is increasingly relevant, but which today's debate does not allow us to fully discuss.

Just a few weeks ago, we would have scarcely believed that we would find ourselves in a 1930s moment and yet here we are. A dictator has moved beyond threatening his neighbour. Putin has rained total devastation and indiscriminate slaughter down on Ukraine. He has gambled with the peace and stability of Europe, of his own country and of the world.

In 1936, Éamon de Valera addressed the League of Nations in Geneva. He lamented the unwillingness and the incapacity of the League of Nations to defend Ethiopia. He said:

Let us face the fact that every nation may when the test comes have many good reasons for shirking the terrible responsibility of entering upon a war. Let us face the fact that not one of the fifty nations represented here is prepared to face war to preserve the principles of the League in the present dispute.

We speak of solidarity with Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands across Europe are expressing solidarity in the only way they can. They are taking to the streets. They are active across social media. They are making themselves heard. As parliamentarians and as governments, the threshold for solidarity is much higher. It is not enough for us to say that we support Ukraine. We have influence. We have power. We can help Ukraine by our actions, or we can condemn it by our inaction. We must give the people of Ukraine every chance of survival. We have seen how they are standing up for democracy, for their right to self-govern and for their right to self-defence in the face of a man who is intent on destroying democracies and intent on maximising destruction on his neighbour.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, spoke earlier of how impressed he was with the speed at which governments acted when it became clear that all-out war was imminent. We have seen urgency and unity across the governments of Europe. Positions that were long-held by states and by political parties shifted dramatically in a matter of days. We have shown that governments need not be stagnant and slow moving. They can be agile and responsive when people need it most. We have seen immeasurable courage from the men and women of Ukraine. The world is watching with awe as they face down the tanks of a military superpower. We have seen political courage across the European Union as leaders and Ministers faced up to what was happening. They saw it for what it was, namely, a war of aggression against a sovereign nation, a 1930s moment. The sacred cows of non-intervention and neutrality have been shaken.

This responsiveness from the political establishment in Europe has given Ukraine a chance against the odds. In my party, which is a pan-European party, we have always taken a firm stance against militarisation. Our fundamental philosophy is to oppose it, but it has been recognised that we do not have the luxury of not being involved. As Europeans, we are involved and across Europe we are facing up to that.

Ireland must grapple with the same dilemma. We are on the edge of Europe, but are we going to stand on the side-lines? We must have the courage and resolve that we are seeing in the Ukraine and that we are seeing across Europe. Whether we like it or not, we are part of this 1930s moment. This is a fight for democracy, for sovereign integrity and, possibly, for civilisation. I commend this motion.

One of the most important political characteristics is self-awareness, which is knowing one’s limitations and one’s capabilities. It is important that in this House we assess ourselves when it comes to deciding how we respond to the threat posed by Vladimir Putin’s unlawful and brutal invasion of Ukraine. We need to know what our capacities are and what our limitations are.

The first thing we all need to acknowledge is that we are not a military power. We do not have the type of military power that would have any impact on this invasion. Even if we did, we could not use it, because of our long-standing policy of neutrality. However, we need to look at where we are powerful and where we are significant. This comes under two headings. First, as a member of the European Union, we are very effective. That is why I support the Government in what it has done by being part of the imposition of swingeing sanctions on the Putin regime, which I think will be effective.

Second, and more important, we are an independent, sovereign State. We are a State that has a proud record of standing up to aggression and of standing up for justice. We need to emphasise that more. We also need to recognise that when it comes to foreign policy, it is not a delegated function. It is a competence that remains within the member state under the European treaties. That is why I find it so hard to understand that a country that is as proud as Ireland is prepared to associate itself diplomatically with a regime that is at present committing war crimes. We know that it is committing war crimes. The Government says that it is committing war crimes and yet we are prepared to go along with this practice of permitting diplomatic relations between Ireland and Vladimir Putin's Russia. We should call an end to it. We should close our embassy in Moscow. We should bring our diplomats home. We should tell the Russian ambassador and his colleagues in the embassy, which is on the appropriately named Orwell Road, to depart, to get their bags and baggage and to leave this country.

As to the reasons we do not do that, two reasons have been given. First, we want to keep diplomacy open so that we can talk. This is where self-awareness is important. We are delusional if we think Vladimir Putin or his regime is going to listen to Ireland. They have no interest in listening to Ireland. The second reason we do not do it is that we are told it is important to ensure that a decision is made collectively by the European Union. Foreign policy, as I said, is a competency of this country. We should stand up proudly and we should lead the way diplomatically by saying that we want to get rid of the Russian ambassador from this country.

If we look back at what has happened in Europe, we can see that different reasons and different decisions are being made by member states within the European Union. That has happened already. Some of them are participating militarily. Others, such as us, are not. It is not correct to say that we have to act collectively as a European Union. By doing so, we are undermining our strength as an independent country.

I commend this motion. Like many Members here, I think it is vital that we give our solidarity to the Ukrainian people. Táim an-sásta a labhairt faoi saoirse na hÚcráine, and against the disgraceful Russian onslaught and the war crimes of Vladimir Putin and his army. We have all seen the scenes. Some Ukrainian people have made their lives in Ireland, in places like Dundalk. They have seen what we have seen. It is a lot more real for them. We can only commend the courage of those who have returned to fight a foreign invader and to defend their homeland. It is one of the things those I have spoken to locally bring up and commend.

It is necessary that we play our part. Everyone has spoken about financial sanctions. There is a need to cut off the supply chain and to cut off the moneys to ensure that the war economy cannot operate. I heard the Russian term “bunt" earlier today, which refers to an uprising from the ground up. It is the idea that one can overthrow a Russian leader.

The big thing required is the courage and the bravery of the Ukrainian people. What is also necessary is that things are made difficult for the Russian economy and for Vladimir Putin and that a determination might be made by others. We have seen the bravery of people who have been protesting on the street. Even some of the people who call him "boss" might think that the boss has gone too far and that it might be time for him to go because nobody knows where exactly he is intent on going at this point in time. However, we all accept that it is somewhere very dangerous.

We probably all expected that the Russian invasion would have had greater military success. However, down to the defence put up by the Ukrainians, that has not been the case. Our big fear is an escalation. We are hearing of further attacks and of a probable escalation in various cities and towns around Ukraine at this point in time. The future is incredibly scary.

Brendan Murphy was in contact with both the Minister for Foreign Affairs and me. I spoke to him a couple of days ago. He was very worried. He had to stop his journey with his family. They were under attack and they were obviously under really terrible conditions. I think he is under slightly better conditions now and is closer to the border. He sent me a message to say that between the Irish and the Ukrainians, they are being minded.

I believe he is in contact with departmental officials and the work that is being done in that regard is, of course, utterly commendable.

I might highlight a couple of things he mentioned in a message he sent to me within the past half an hour. He stated that where he lived, the war is hard, with missile tanks and many Russians and Belarusians - these are his words, not mine - being wiped out. He went on to state Putin's 60 km military column is being broken up, and described the conflict as a bitter war, with ordinary people stopping and disarming the invaders. Missiles are a big problem, he wrote, because they are impersonal and kill anyone who is not strong. All of this is ominous and none of it is good.

Nevertheless, there also has been a response locally in towns such as Dundalk, where St. Patrick's GFC, for example, has been carrying out collections for Ukraine. Many people will say that what is needed is money for the likes of UNICEF and the Red Cross and there is a difficulty in respect of medicines. I and many others have been contacted by people who have pointed out there is a fear in respect of insulin supplies, given there may be only two or three days' worth of them in Ukraine. Moreover, there is a lack of supply even in countries such as Poland. People are looking into organising a collection here but that would need to be facilitated by the Department of Foreign Affairs and whoever else because it would not be possible to deliver these sorts of material by truck. It would need to be co-ordinated and I would like to think work could be done in that regard.

We all stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people and I fully support the motion. We have to do whatever we can to ensure the response will hurt in Russia and that it hurts Vladimir Putin's regime in order that we can see an end to the conflict.

I am sharing time with Deputies Berry and Tóibín.

I welcome the proposal to allow Ukrainian citizens to come to Europe and be a part of the communities as though they were EU citizens. Many Ukrainians already live among us and, indeed, play a big part in our day-to-day lives through work, sport and many of our social circles. Since March last, there has been a call on the Departments of Transport and Enterprise, Trade and Employment to allow Ukrainian heavy goods vehicle, HGV, drivers to come to Ireland on work permits. I have been told this has not been progressed because the Road Safety Authority, RSA, maintains that the Ukrainian driving licence is not recognised by Ireland as compatible. As I have pointed out previously, a number of EU countries accept the Ukrainian HGV licence as compatible with the EU licence, including Italy and Portugal to name but two.

I ask the Minister of State that no further stress or hardship be placed on those who choose Ireland as the land of the free, as they flee the atrocities being visited on them and their loved ones. Given all requirements have been lifted for visa qualification, can he ensure there is agreement on this issue from the RSA, not lame excuses arguing that the personnel in the area are no longer in the position? It is quite an outrageous response. Will the Minister of State please ensure measures can be put in place to satisfy the safety requirements and insist in the easement of accessing jobs for the people who may come here? This would be a stitch in time that would save nine, and it is a measure that can be considered now in preparation. It would allow those who wish to avail of Ireland as a means to getting their lives back on track to do so, and it might in some way distract them from the awfulness of what is happening by allowing them to avail of work and rebuild their lives here or when they return to Ukraine.

Finally, I condemn the actions of President Putin. There have been many calls during this debate, but no words befit the cruel actions being taken against the Ukrainian people that we see minute by minute on our social media feeds. Words are cheap; actions speak louder than words. Pictures of the beautiful children such as Polina will be etched on our minds forever. Every possible action must be taken to end this horror at the earliest possible opportunity. I commend and will support the motion.

What is happening in Ukraine is an absolute disaster. Watching the ominous pictures of columns of military vehicles heading towards Kyiv is deeply chilling and Ireland should, obviously, do everything it can to help the people of Ukraine. I refer to everything in economic, financial and diplomatic terms to deploy pressure on Russia. I welcome much of what the Government has done and I do not want this debate to be unnecessarily fractious but some critique in the Government's approach is warranted.

The Ukrainian ambassador has asked Ireland to isolate Russia and that means sending home Russia's diplomatic mission to this State. The Government is refusing to do that, which is a big mistake. I have never seen a Government refuse to do what so many of its own Deputies have asked it to do. It is unprecedented. It is strange also that the Government is lauding itself, on the one hand, for being ahead of the rest of the European Union with regard to preventing flights from flying over Ireland's airspace, yet it is saying it cannot move until the rest of Europe does when it comes to sending the Russian ambassador home. Ireland is refusing to exert its own sovereignty to support Ukrainian sovereignty. It does not make sense. Moreover, what is the Government going to do if a Russian aeroplane flies over Irish airspace? Two Russian aeroplanes flew over Irish airspace in 2012 and we were powerless to do anything about it. Will the Government scramble the Government jet to see whether it could stop it?

I asked an important question earlier of the Taoiseach and he refused to answer it. It relates to the Russian mission in Ireland and, allegedly, a number of spies who exist within it. Is it the case that they exist? The Minister of State might answer that in his concluding remarks. It has been further alleged that Russia poses a significant threat to this State. Is that the case, in his estimation? When the Taoiseach was asked this question, he stated he was a realist when it comes to spies, which was an admission that they exist in this country and are doing damage to our interests. That alone should be good reason for this country to send home the Russian embassy staff.

Russian companies have sanctions against them and some of the companies are linked to firms that operate in the IFSC. Firms in Ireland have been raising billions of euro and lending that money to Russian banks, which have been lending it to firms that have sanctions against them. We cannot turn a blind eye to that if we want the impact of those sanctions to stick. What will the Government do to ensure this country does not allow for the bypassing of sanctions?

Ireland has not nearly exhausted the potential for humanitarian aid to Ukraine. I find it strange that we have only touched the tip of the iceberg of what is necessary in humanitarian aid, yet Fine Gael Deputies are demanding that Ireland pursue lethal force. This would do damage to Ireland’s potential in the future to be seen as a strong, honest broker that can reach out to different factions and look for peaceful resolution. We have a name internationally as a peaceful, honest broker. We should not do damage to that by getting involved in the delivery of lethal force.

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I wholeheartedly approve of and endorse the motion. As the House will be aware, I have been raising concerns about the Ukraine situation in recent months. Unfortunately, those concerns were well founded and now we are in a very dodgy place whereby Europe is once again at war, for the first time in the 21st century from the point of view of a land war.

I utterly condemn the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, that is, not only the fact it is happening but also the manner in which it is being done. We should not forget the bogus peace talks that were engaged in at the very start, where not only was time wasted from a European point of view but Mr. Putin used that time to pre-position his troops before he launched his attack. We should never forget that. Moreover, the conduct of the Russian ambassador is beneath contempt and should certainly be remembered. He came to this Parliament twice in the past 12 months and lied through his teeth. Nevertheless, that was good because we saw his true colours and every time that he said an attack was not going to happen, we knew instantly that it would, which certainly helped from a preparation point of view.

The targeting of civilians in Ukraine is outrageous, as are the use of cluster munitions and the completely unacceptable escalation of the nuclear alert status from the baseline. While I absolutely condemn the activities of the Russian Federation, I commend the conduct of the Ukrainian Administration and would like to see it continue.

First, we have to remember the reason Ukraine is in this situation is that in 1994, it voluntarily agreed to hand over all its nuclear weapons. Under the Budapest Memorandum, they gave Russia all their nuclear warheads in return for what they thought were security guarantees. Ukraine utterly honoured its part of the agreement whereas we can see the Russian Federation utterly ignored its part.

We should also remember that if you compare the two presidents, President Zelenskyy of Ukraine and President Putin of Russia, you can see a completely different approach. One President is at home with his people and easy and comfortable in their presence and the other President sits at the end of a long table utterly afraid of his own shadow, basically, afraid of a few Covid bugs, not the hard man that we have been told he was in the past.

I also welcome the response of the international community. The sanctions regime is comprehensive and it was swift. Ireland played a significant part from that point of view - the fact that there are financial sanctions, a travel ban and all the odds and sods that go with it - but the public displays of solidarity are important as well. The lighting up of the buildings is absolutely essential. It really motivates the Ukrainian people and demotivates those Russian soldiers who have access to the Internet.

Most importantly, I very much approve of the upgrade of Ukraine's accession to the European Union. It is now being classed as an accession candidate. That political embrace is hugely important because President Putin - I should say "Mr. Putin" - basically thought by his actions he would be able to remobilise the old Soviet Union. The reality is that he remobilised an entirely different union, the European Union, and it reminds us to go back to first principles in relation to why this Union exists in the first place.

As for the Irish response, I welcome the extra €10 million. From a humanitarian point of view, Ireland was fast out of the blocks in that regard. Humanitarian organisations are getting an extra €10 million. I also welcome the €9.5 million through the European peace facility. It is definitely unprecedented, from Ireland's point of view.

I totally accept the coalition situation where there is a programme for Government. It is a non-judicable programme. It is only a political agreement but it should be honoured because it was voted on by the grassroots of the three constituent parties. However, there are alternative pathways available in relation to the provision of lethal weapons. That situation will develop over the next few days or weeks. I suspect that the Government may have to amend its position in that regard.

We can do more. First, in respect of the Russian Embassy, I have listened to the counterarguments over the past few days as to whether the Russian ambassador should go home or should stay. I propose a compromise. At the very least, the Russian ambassador should be banned from attending the parliamentary precincts here. He is no longer welcome in the Leinster House campus. He lied to the Parliament and he lied to the people. If Leinster House is the people's house, then he should be banned from here. If the Minister wishes to have negotiations with the Russian ambassador, he can bring him to Iveagh House and carpet him there, and I hope the language of the Minister, Deputy Coveney, will be neither parliamentary nor diplomatic in that regard. That is what I would suggest.

Deputies

Hear, hear.

Second, we have a no-fly zone for Russian aircraft over the country at present. As for whether we can enforce it or not, we all know the answer to that. We should explore extending that to shipping as well to ban Russian ships from our ports and from our territorial waters.

The Minister, through the European Union, should also have an additional range of sanctions available for primarily one reason. The Russian forces have thermobaric munitions in Ukraine at present. They are not officially classed as weapons of mass destruction but I have seen what they can do in Homs and in Aleppo and we all know what they did in Grozny, Chechnya. If thermobaric munitions are deployed, unprecedented massive additional sanctions should be unleashed.

We are hoping for a diplomatic outcome here. I urge the Russian Federation to implement a ceasefire, to withdraw its troops and to return its alert status for its nuclear weapons back to the baseline from whence it came.

Deputy O'Dowd is sharing time with Deputies Higgins, Alan Farrell and O'Donnell.

First, I refer to the last point Deputy Berry made about the Russian ambassador and the Oireachtas. I was appointed by the Ceann Comhairle as the convenor of the Irish-Russian parliamentary group. We had a discussion following the invasion of Ukraine at the weekend and the Ceann Comhairle decided, in conjunction with the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, that the Irish-Russian parliament group would be dissolved yesterday. The Ceann Comhairle issued a statement, which quoted me, that it was being done in full support of and solidarity with the Ukrainian Parliament and the Ukrainian people. That job has been done, effectively and well. Following the Russian invasion, the Ceann Comhairle's act of solidarity has been the right and appropriate one to make. It reflects the views right around the country that that should be the case.

This day, millions of despairing Ukrainians are fleeing for their very lives from their family homes - men to bear arms to do battle for freedom against the Russian invader and women and children to undertake arduous and desperate journeys seeking sanctuary and a safe haven in western Europe, and looking to places such as Ireland where they will find a place of safety.

Cities all over Ukraine are daily under appalling cruise missile and artillery assault while combat-hardened Russian troops and battle tanks creep closer each day to the centre of cities such as Kyiv and threaten the innocent men, women and children who may still reside there. Brave and determined patriotic Ukrainian soldiers are fighting resolutely and with superhuman effort to resist the invader but there is no doubt but that the dark fog of war that is swirling around in Ukraine emanates solely from the decision of one man, the Kremlin dictator, safe in his gilded palace in Moscow, as Deputy Berry said, at his long table away from and afraid of everybody.

We in this country and, indeed, the EU and the free world call for Russia to end its military aggression in the Ukraine and we demand an immediate ceasefire. I have no doubt but that Ireland, as a member of the United Nations Security Council, is working unceasingly for a peaceful resolution of this crisis and we are ready, willing and able to assist in that manner.

I salute the unquenchable spirit of the Ukrainian people, as all of us do, led as they are in their resistance by the resolute and brave democratically-elected President Zelenskyy. He is a man for all seasons. He is somebody who shines out and gives all of us who believe in democracy a shining light to follow and to support.

The Irish people have responded to this crisis with great generosity. Every town and village is organising practical support, help and assistance and we are ready, willing and able to assist refugees who may come here.

We hear today of a 60-km long Russian military convoy approaching Kyiv which has the capacity to pulverise and raze that proud city to the ground and massacre many of its remaining inhabitants. Please God, they will not succeed in this objective. The truth, the fundamental truth, the universal truth is that good must prevail over evil and might is not right. I believe that the blue and yellow national flag of Ukraine will never be replaced on the flagpoles of Ukraine by the flags of temporary imposters from aggressive military occupiers. The only other flag that should be welcome alongside their national emblem of Ukraine will, I believe, be the blue flag with the gold stars of our united European Union. We in the European Union and Ireland must now earn our place on that flagpole by our continued determined unequivocal support for Ukrainian membership of the European Union, and, indeed, expand further our Union to further interested nations.

We must also, as an island on the edge of Europe, play our full part in ensuring the safe defence of the European Union into the future and have a full national debate, and an informed debate, on how this can best be done. We stand absolutely united behind the Ukrainian people. I fully support all the actions which the Government and, indeed, the European Union are taking in this situation.

I want to start by expressing my support and solidarity with the people of Ukraine. Their sovereignty and territorial integrity has been so illegally and callously attacked. As a country which has historically suffered many threats to our own sovereignty, our hearts in Ireland are breaking for the people in Ukraine and, indeed, for all those living through war while praying for peace.

We have sent a very clear message to Russia - both as a country and as a member of the European Union - that Putin's war will not be tolerated. With the rouble crumbling, we can see that is having the desired effect.

I understand where the national outcry for expulsions and independent actions against the Russian regime is coming from and I agree. It is very clear that we have been blatantly lied to and fed misinformation and disinformation in recent weeks, if not months and possibly longer by Russian representatives in Ireland. However, it is growing ever clearer that our strength lies in our union with Europe. Ultimately, any unilateral decisions on Ireland's part would not serve the Ukrainian people or the Irish people. For that reason, we must act collectively, boldly and bravely.

I very much welcome the swift action by the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, to waive visa requirements for those fleeing Ukraine. I have been heartened by the support and welcoming nature of the Irish people towards Ukrainians here in Ireland. However, even the most optimistic outlook on the war could not see it being over in 90 days. I seriously doubt it would be safe for Ukrainians to return home then. I welcome the ongoing talks with the EU to allow Ukrainians to stay and work here for up to three years. It is our moral duty to support these people and their families whose worlds have been so violently turned upside down. I would welcome an update from the Minister on plans to treat Ukrainian citizens the same as EU citizens and to extend to them the right to work and social protection. That must be done soon, given the indefinite nature of this crisis.

I welcome the confirmation from the Minister for Justice today that work has started on activating the temporary protection directive. A number of people have raised the matter of documentation with me. I urge the Minister to take a compassionate approach to the current travel requirements and documentation such as passports. Like many, I have been horrified by reports of white people being prioritised to leave Ukraine, while people of colour are held back at Ukrainian borders. I want to put that on the record of the Dáil.

We all feel very helpless watching what is going on. The first question many people ask is what they can do to help. Lots of people have contacted my office to ask about that. People have offered to welcome Ukrainian people into their own homes. I would be interested to know if we will have a system set up to allow people to register their interest to host Ukrainians coming to Ireland. Over the weekend there were countless people and organisations arranging collections of supplies and support for Ukraine, including transition year students in Griffeen Community College. I understand the advice is that continuing to send these supplies may clog up transport channels. For those looking to help, the easiest way to do this is through financial donations. Some 60,000 Irish people have already donated more than €1.3 million to the Irish Red Cross Ukraine crisis appeal. I urge people to please do so if they can.

We are now witnessing a war of aggression in Europe, something we believed was consigned to our history books. The bravery and heroism of Ukrainian soldiers, its President and its people is profound. We in Ireland must do everything we can to protect and support Ukraine and its people. The Ukrainian people and their Government did not seek this war with Russia, instead this conflict has been thrust upon them by a man detached from the reality of the modern world. The Ukrainian people did not invade Russia. The Ukrainian people did not ship separatists to Donbas or Crimea. The Ukrainian people did not use cluster bombs on apartment blocks. The Ukrainian people did not target hospitals, killing countless innocent children. Vladimir Putin did. He has taken the course that has been chosen by history's worst monsters. He is a tyrant, whose fear and ideological crusade of greed and conquest will reduce the Russian Federation to a pariah state, without access to international investment, support, or sympathy.

A simultaneous war of disinformation is raging in Russia itself, which is why the international community must reach past the Kremlin and speak directly to the Russian people through any means possible. I applaud the steps that are being taken to do this online but we must do more. Ukrainian citizens can come to Ireland without the burden of normal processes. We will support them with housing, healthcare, education and, most importantly, family reunification.

We do not yet know where this war will lead us. Putin is intent on redrawing the map of Europe and the restoration of some imagined idea of Russian empire. It was around this time eight years ago in 2014 that Ukrainian civilians, that is, normal people - mothers, fathers, teachers, bus drivers, nurses and shop workers - took to the streets and to Maidan Square in Kyiv in what became known as the Revolution of Dignity. They protested a Government seeking to prevent their country moving towards the European Union. I have visited Ukraine twice in recent years and on behalf of the Oireachtas, I observed its free and fair elections. Ukraine has the right to self-determination and to determine its own foreign policy.

Ignoring evil will not stop evil. I commend Russian citizens who have had the courage to protest this war in Russian cities, knowing a despotic dictator such as Putin would have them arrested, which he did. Today, we see again the dignity of the people of Ukraine and their rightful President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. We must support their efforts to become an EU member state as quickly as possible. The international community must continue to roll out crippling sanctions, including in hard-to-reach places, like legally complex investment vehicles right here in Ireland. We must seize the aggressors' wealth immediately. I commend this motion. Slava Ukraini.

I am afraid Deputy O'Donnell has very little time remaining.

I thought I had three minutes. That is what I was allocated.

His colleagues have consumed some of it.

I thought my colleagues would have been advised if their time was slipping away.

Is Deputy O'Donnell suggesting it is my job to do that?

No. I am saying I put a lot of time into this, a Cheann Comhairle, and I would like to make a contribution to the House.

The Deputy has 52 seconds now.

I am going to get to the heart of the matter. What can we do for the Ukrainian people at the moment? First and foremost, they are looking for humanitarian aid. We need to get food out there. There is a co-ordinated European approach, and it needs to happen immediately. We need to fast-track Ukraine's membership of the EU. That will send a strong statement to the Russians that we are four-square behind the Ukrainians.

I wish to refer to the security of the State. We had the Irish Aviation Authority before the transport committee on 2 February. The only country that flew aeroplanes near Ireland without transponders on was Russia. There have been five incidents in total since 2017: one in 2017, three in 2020 and one in 2021. As a country, we need to invest heavily in proper radar equipment. It will cost between €100 million and €200 million. That needs to happen as a matter of urgency. There is great frustration among the public as well as the body politic at the behaviour of the Russian ambassador to Ireland. However, we have Irish citizens in Russia and Irish citizens in Ukraine and we must look after their interests as well. That is why it is most important that we maintain the embassies in those specific countries.

The Deputy's time is up.

I support the motion.

I express my solidarity with the Ukrainian people at this time, and to those Ukrainian families living in my constituency who are no doubt terrified for their families and friends back home. As a citizen of a country that understands the impact of occupation and imperialist aggression, I offer whatever support I can to these people.

I also add my full condemnation of the actions of the Russian President. We debated in this House previously that Ireland must use its seat on the United Nations Security Council more robustly. We must now do whatever we can to stop this war and ensure the rights of the Ukrainian people to a peaceful future as a sovereign independent state.

As a militarily neutral state, Ireland has played a widely recognised role in peacekeeping and in the battle against nuclear proliferation. The Russian President's actions must be roundly condemned. No country should be subjected to the kind of military aggression and destruction that has been brought to the people of Ukraine.

I also extend my solidarity to those ordinary citizens of Russia who are brave enough to protest against this war imposed by President Putin and have been arrested in their thousands. We must make every effort as a country to sanction Russia here in this State. We need to make our position very clear by expelling the Russian ambassador and ending the practices within the International Financial Services Centre that facilitated the €118 billion being funnelled from this State to Russia's oligarchs. We must use every democratic process available to us to impose sanctions and to bring a speedy and peaceful resolution to stop this war.

We must redouble our diplomatic efforts while simultaneously supporting Ukrainian people and sanctions against the regimes that are now in place. Democracy, international law, human rights and peace are what we must focus on. Sinn Féin supports the Government's decision to contribute to Ukraine via the purchase of protective equipment. Our neutral status puts us in a unique position to work with others to end the war which is causing so much suffering to the people across Ukraine. The EU must act with sanctions on such a scale that there can be no doubt that we will not stand by and allow Putin to continue his imperialist ambitions in Ukraine.

I would like to make a comment in response to Deputy Richmond. The most recent poll, which was discussed last night on the Claire Byrne show, shows very clearly that the vast majority of people - in fact, 76% of the 1,000 people who were polled - want Ireland to maintain its neutral status, and that must be heard.

To conclude, let me reiterate my condemnation of the actions of Russia and my solidarity to the Ukrainian people and to all those countries which are suffering at the hands of oppressors, like the Palestinian people at the hands of Israel. It is time for the UN and this Government to stand up and stand firm for all small nations under occupation.

I call Deputy Michael Collins, who is sharing time with his colleagues.

This motion, which I support, is very much to support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. We have heard and seen so much in the past few days about Ukraine and the terrible way its people are being treated in their own country by Russia, a move sanctioned by the Russian Government but which may not be supported by the majority of its Russian people. In the past few days, we have heard some politicians in this country make wild statements about expelling the Russian ambassador. This might sound like a popular move but common sense must prevail here and doors must remain open so the mad actions of Russia will be condemned at the highest levels in this country.

Ireland must focus most of our efforts on something we can do, and this is to make the Ukrainians who come here welcome and comfortable in Ireland. From what I can gather, no accommodation provision has been made for anyone coming from Ukraine to Ireland. This is typical - all talk but little or no action. I spoke to the Ukrainian community in west Cork over the weekend in Bandon, Skibbereen, Clonakilty and Bantry. Many of them told me they are living in one-bed apartments and are expecting family to arrive here. In some cases, five to ten adults and children will arrive on a 90-day visa and all are expected to cram into a one-bed apartment. This is not good enough and the Government must act quickly.

We may ask what is the solution. What about our lovely community centres and parish halls across the country? While this is not the perfect solution, surely it is better than putting ten people in a one-bed apartment. At least they will be treated with some respect and dignity if the State were to work with local communities to provide these excellent facilities with a little financial aid.

In the past few days, I have seen what I always knew was in this country - an outpouring of love and kindness as a Ukraine family were reunited yesterday in Dublin Airport and last night in Ballydehob, after a nightmare journey. It started in Kyiv last Friday morning when they went to their local hospital with their five and a half year-old son, who has leukaemia, to be met at the hospital by the medical team, who gave the boy’s mother and father the boy’s medical records and told them to flee the country immediately. This started an incredible 77-hour journey, ending in Ballydehob last night. I would like to thank the Department of Foreign Affairs for its co-operation, the staff in my office, who followed every minute of the highly dangerous journey for the family, night and day, and the family themselves for being brave enough to get out and seek immediate medical attention for Leonid in this country. This journey for Yana, Sergei, Svetlana and, last but certainly not least, the real hero, Leonid, a five-year-old child who is now in the wonderful care of medical professionals in this country, must have looked like an impossible journey. To leave behind their country, their home and their loved ones must be a heartache beyond words. No matter how Victoria, David and Sasha show kindness in Ballydehob, the hearts and minds of that family who came from Ukraine must be in Ukraine.

I would like to thank the doctor, nurses and staff in the Mizen Medical Practice in Schull for the wonderful care shown to Leonid, who was to undergo a bone marrow transplant in Ukraine on 10 March. I would also like to pay tribute to other medical professionals in Cork, Dublin and Belfast who have put out the hand of love to these people through me since their arrival in Ireland yesterday.

There are many other people out there who are in our thoughts. Eugene O'Sullivan from Bantry is out in Ukraine at the moment and I was in contact with him over the weekend, and there are many more. We are doing our level best but we need to look at the accommodation side.

I am glad to get this opportunity to support the people of Ukraine, who are going through a terrible time, and to support unequivocally all of those poor people who are suffering so much – men, women and children. We welcome those who are seeking refuge here in Ireland and those who have already arrived here safely, especially one girl I know of who arrived in Killarney late last night after travelling from the very first moment of the attack all the way to the Hungarian border, where she was met by her Killarney boyfriend. Her mother is following now. She had been in the car as well but the girl's grandmother got sick and was not able to make the journey, so her mother was not able to come any further.

We are asking what we can do. I thank the staff and management of Michael J. Hoare’s machinery sales in Killorglin, in particular Nuala, Timmy, Claire and all of those who are making a massive effort to collect at their premises the utensils, first-aid, bandages, non-perishable food and any other goods that would be of benefit. These are wonderful people who thought of this initiative off their own bat and they are doing their very best to help the Ukrainian people by collecting all of these things.

What guns, ammunition or artillery do we have in the Curragh that is not being used at the minute? I do not think it has been used for many years. Maybe we should think of sending this stuff off to people who are trying to defend their families, to the men out there trying to defend their children and their elderly parents. If there is no use for it, and I do not see that there is at the present time, I ask that we send it out there to them. It is frightening to think that we see 40 miles of Russian troops along the motorways into Kyiv and think of what they are going to do when they arrive there.

We need to hurt this fellow in his pocket, where it hurts him most, and we all support that initiative. Surely we must stop importing coal from Russia, cop on and have our own natural gas terminal in the Shannon estuary, and get energy from places that might make it readily available to us, so we will not be hurting people in other countries.

I wish the Minister of State well. I see his arm is in a sling. I did not notice it last week, in case he thinks I was inadvertently avoiding it. I do not know cad a tharla but I hope he will be better soon. I do not know if he is in a fit condition to be sent out to use those weapons Deputy Healy-Rae is talking about.

Last Sunday - Dé Domhnaigh seo caite - in Cahir - Cathair Dún Iascaigh - Josephine Casey, Patsy McGurk, Fidelma Nugent, Sergeant Ray Moloney and many others organised a wonderful event in music, song and chant for Ukrainian people and the many other nationalities and newcomers we have in our State. They are not new anymore and one family I met there now has four generations in Ireland. They are playing their part here in Ireland and we must play our part to support them. It was a wonderful, spirited occasion and I salute the companies involved.

In Seachtain na Gaeilge, we have the adage of meitheal and ní neart go cur le chéile. It is very important and we have seen it in every parish, with people organising and coming together to see what we can do. We are a neutral country but we can provide the medicines.

I am a diabetic and I have insulin. We just take it for granted. To think that they might only have two or three days' supply is unthinkable. What is happening is unspeakable. I compliment Deputy Michael Collins and Valerie in his office and other staff on the heroic efforts that they made over the weekend to get that buachaill óg back here to Ireland. Hopefully he will be able to get a donor now. He had a donor where he was but they made the decision that they had to send him away. And that hospital where he was going to have his operation was actually bombed either today or last night.

How horrific can it be? Man's inhumanity to man. We have to do what we can with financial support but also with these goods. In every parish, people are offering trucks and to drive them, keeping them safe while they are being filled and when they are full, sending them out to eastern Europe into the jaws of war. It is so important.

We must send a signal to the rest of the world that war is not the answer to anything. We must support those people. Many of them have being living here for four generations. Many of them are welcome. There are issues about housing our own people; I raised them earlier. There are people saying this, that and the other, but it is 90 days for the moment. It might be much longer. In the spirit of compassion, integrity and decency, Irish people will put them up in community halls, in their homes or wherever. We did it for Kosovo and other places. I have fond memories of that. We were recognised for doing that. That is the role we must play. I do not support calls to dismiss the Russian ambassador. We have Irish citizens in Russia and there are many Russian people here who have nothing to do with this horrible war. We should keep the lines of communication open. I thank the Ukrainian ambassador. He was here last week and he helped Deputy Michael Collins earlier today with translating and other issues because all the medical records are in a different language. We must do what we can. Ní neart go cur le chéile.

We all share the revulsion at the actions of the Russian Government in invading Ukraine. Over the past week, what we have seen unfolding before our eyes are acts of violence and cruelty, and an attack on the most fundamental principles of sovereignty, self-determination and democracy. Few of us every expected to see scenes like this unfold in our lifetime and on our continent. We have also seen the resolve of Ukrainian citizens, in Ukraine and abroad, standing up against Russian aggression and this existential threat against their country. As others have stated, our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine. We stand with them in this hour of need.

This is a moment for European solidarity, not just in words but in actions too. The Irish public has been rightly horrified by events in Ukraine. As the Taoiseach said earlier, the Government must be generous in its response to the crisis. That is what the Irish public want to see. People have already begun to arrive from Ukraine, including a small number who have claimed international protection. In the coming days, we expect to see, for the first time in 15 years, unaccompanied minors from Ukraine arriving into Ireland and seeking international protection. We are potentially facing into a level of displacement not seen within Europe since the Second World War. Collective solidarity across the EU is the best response to this crisis. In this collective response, Ireland will not be found wanting.

This is a moment of international crisis. Our country may be asked to make a collective national effort to provide sanctuary for civilians. If that happens, all of Government and every community in this country must rise to that challenge and do our part to help all those from Ukraine who seek refuge here, whether in the short term or for longer. That is the character of Irish people and what our people expect from us as their political leaders. We have a strong track record in this area in recent years. In responding to the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan, we offered humanitarian visas to more than 500 vulnerable individuals through the Irish refugee protection programme. We are also continuing to meet our ongoing commitments to support Syrian refugees who are integrating into communities across the country. We are ready to provide accommodation to Ukrainian refugees who are offered temporary protection in Ireland. I want to support as many people as possible. The Government wishes to support as many people as possible. I know this is also the desire of the Irish people.

It is too early as yet to know what the likely demands on our assistance will be. Many Ukrainians may wish to remain close to the border with Ukraine in order to enable them to return home as soon as possible, if that becomes feasible. Officials from my Department are working closely with all Departments and State agencies under the co-ordination of the Department of the Taoiseach. This work will allow us identify the type and the scale of the resources needed to ensure that Ireland is in a position to respond in a comprehensive and compassionate manner to those fleeing the crisis in Ukraine. We will work intensively in the days and weeks ahead to demonstrate to the people of Ukraine that we stand with them in this hour of need and that in the face of this indefensible aggression, our shared humanity will win out in the end.

My son who is in primary school asked me at the weekend whether we are facing a world war. When I realised that I could not give a monosyllabic answer to a very straightforward question, it encapsulated the magnitude of the event we are discussing today. I rise in support of the Government motion in solidarity with the Ukrainian people and in condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. It is a breach of international law. It is a monumental failure of politics, which is the stock-in-trade of what we do. We have to accept that internationally, as politicians, we have failed. It is inconceivable that having seen the devastation of a world war on European soil and European citizens in living memory that we could be on the cusp of that again. That is why we must recognise that this is a watershed moment. History has a habit of repeating itself. We know the consequences of appeasement in the 1930s. Appeasement of Putin to date has led us to this situation.

Words matter. I welcome the apparent consensus. It is broadly nuanced in certain circumstances and belated from other quarters within this House. Nevertheless, I welcome the broad consensus of the contributions to this debate. However the genesis of this problem goes back at least to 2014 and the invasion of Crimea by Russia. On that occasion, unfortunately, many within this House and others who have flown this nest and gone elsewhere failed the test in that appeasement of Putin's Russia on those occasions. The voting record of members of the European Parliament then and subsequently, even as recently as December, is a travesty of appeasement of a brutal regime that breaches international law and has led us to where we are today.

As I say, words matter in politics. They are the stock-in-trade of our profession. Unfortunately, many have failed the test. I welcome the international coalition that has been amassed. I acknowledge in particular the role played by the Government and the support it has received in the House and from the people at large for the actions taken. The stock-in-trade of the Putin regime has included breaches of international law, suppression of dissent and poisoning. The list is endless. We should have no truck with that. There should be no equivocation in respect of lawlessness.

Last week I attended the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, parliamentary assembly meeting in Vienna. I took the opportunity on Thursday to express the solidarity of this Parliament and the Irish people with the Ukrainian people.

One of the most telling contributions at that meeting was made by the Ukrainian representative, who said if we think this is going to end in Ukraine, we are making a monumental mistake. His prediction was if Putin succeeds in Ukraine the next stop is Moldova. Thereafter, he will continue unfinished business in Georgia and in doing all that he will be destabilising Russian minorities within the European Union's borders and heading for the Baltic states. In that context, I acknowledge the role we have played in building that consensus and the actions we have taken, while suggesting one or two others. We could follow the Turks' example in closing the Bosporus. We could close the Skagerrak. That would close off a marine avenue for Russian trade that would be significant. It is something that could be considered by the Heads of Government, the Council of Ministers, etc. We should also consider another maritime step. We should not purchase any of the proceeds of the Russian fishing fleet, which I think would be significant.

I acknowledge I am impinging on Deputy Calleary's time. What is needed is regime change. I salute the opposition in Russia. It is a monumentally brave act to put your head above the parapet in Russia and stand up against Putin's regime. We need regime change in Russia. We need to ensure the cyberattacks, poisonings, interference with foreign elections and suppression of civilian and political dissent comes to an end so we can have normal relations. I acknowledge the calls made by others for the expulsion of the Russian ambassador. Action should be taken against the Russian diplomatic service in Dublin. I acquiesce to the judgment of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Government as to who should bear the brunt of that, but it is undoubtedly true the incumbent is a yes-man and an apologist for the Putin regime. Whether his presence here can continue or not is something that is up for question, but we need to have avenues of communication open. I am reminded of Kissinger's remarks on America in Europe when we asked who do you call when you want to talk to Europe. We need somebody to talk to. There are Irish citizens in Russia. Russia may well call the shots in Ukraine temporarily in the weeks to come, and we have citizens there also. I conclude by acknowledging the role played by our diplomatic mission in Kyiv in particular. It has done a fantastic job of work in the most difficult of circumstances.

Last Wednesday evening we discussed this matter in somewhat academic terms. As we were doing so, President Putin was making arrangements to cross the border and invade Ukraine. As we speak, Kyiv is being bombarded with missiles. Last night, Fergal Keane, who has observed so many of these situations, finished his report with a father touching his son, who was inside a train, through the glass and on the glass. He said: "What cannot be held must be let go, until another day". That is the reality for families. They are being split. They are being torn apart and torn asunder. Fergal Keane also said he had seen scenes he had never imagined he would see, and he is a war correspondent who, unfortunately, has many years of experience and exposure.

I understand the Government's position on the Russian ambassador, but what about when somebody cannot give a credible answer? He was challenged last Friday evening on RTÉ that he is an apologist for slaughter. He had no credible answer to that challenge from David McCullagh. He said it was a matter for the Irish Government. We must ask ourselves if this is somebody who has respect for the views of the Irish people and who we can do business with. I accept the need to keep diplomatic channels open, but is it worth keeping them open when we are not being listened to?

We need to be able to stand up, as a Government and as a country, and say that within the IFSC and within the section 110 trusts, no Russian operations are being financed or facilitated through the existence of said trusts or through the support of work relating to them. If we cannot do that or clearly say that, then we need to act as a matter of urgency.

I acknowledge what the Minister for Foreign Affairs said about the ordinary Russian people. Many of them are taking brave steps to outline their opposition to all this. They should be supported and acknowledged.

As a final point, we need to act cohesively. Last Wednesday night, I traced how, as Deputy Creed said, this has been going on since 2014. Since then, we have had a relaxation on the part of many institutions, including the EU. I acknowledge the huge steps taken in the past few days, but they have come too late. We need the resolution of the past few days to be continued and strengthened. All of us, as member states and citizens, need to look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we are doing enough. Are we doing enough, as member states, to cut this off at the head? Unless we do that and cut every asset, source of finance and source of support off we cannot look at ourselves in the mirror properly.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an deis a bheith páirteach sa díospóireacht agus ár ndlúthpháirtíocht a chur in iúl do mhuintir na hÚcráine agus a rá leo go seasaimid leo agus an méid tacaíochta is féidir linn a thabhairt dóibh, ar chabhair dhaonnúil í atá bunaithe ar an bpríomhrud, is é sin gur tír neodrach muid.

I welcome the opportunity to take part in this discussion. I have a slight few more minutes than I had on the last occasion but my message is exactly the same, notwithstanding the blatant breach of international law by Russia, which went in on the day after I made my speech. I stood up as a voice for peace and asked for this country to be that voice as well. That is the role we will have to play and we have no choice about it. I say to mhuintir na hÚcráine we stand with you for every possible human help we can give you. I welcome the package of help offered and the sanctions that have been highlighted. I would like to see the details of those to discern whether some of the sanctions are self-serving or are they actually serving what they are setting out to do. I would also like to see the details for helping the people who come here. I welcome it and also the two €10 million amounts highlighted, although one of them is a matter for discussion on another day. It is dancing on the top of a needle in the context of lethal and non-lethal weapons, but it is for another day.

I wish to pick up on Deputy Jim O'Callaghan's remarks. He said that we are a sovereign, independent country. I totally agree with him on that. He went on to say we should use that independence in making decisions about expelling diplomats and other things. I agree with him on that. We are an independent, sovereign state. We should reflect on what that means and how we can use it because it does not mean sitting idly by. I repeat we will not sit idly by in the face of what is going on. However, we must do that in full knowledge we are a neutral country with a powerful voice. How do we then use that voice? We build on the trust and respect we have gained that allowed us to get a seat on the UN Security Council on a temporary basis because people trusted us. Countries trust us. We are in serious danger of losing that trust if we go with the vast majority of the call here on the right to move forward to a military alliance.

Ours is a tiny country of approximately 5 million people. We have experienced much in our lifetimes and we should build on that and use it. I go forward to what has been mentioned as the hypocrisy of some of our attitudes. We all got a briefing on Yemen today and I have it here. When I hear we stand up to the egregious breaking of human rights I fully agree but we do it on a very selective basis. There have been seven years of war in Yemen and 10,000 is the minimum number of children who have died. When we look at children, it does not matter which country and which war - I abhor it. The minimum number of children is 10,000. The number who have died is 377,000. Time is running on. The figures are here and we have done nothing, as a neutral country. We have stood idly by and watched Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who did not vote for the action against Russia, interestingly enough. We have stood idly by.

We have discussed that multiple times at the Security Council, multiple times.

I have very little time.

There have been no sanctions.

Multiple times.

We have stood idly by. We play around. Amnesty International has produced a report on Palestine. I will have two and a half minutes tomorrow night to speak on that.

Amnesty International has clearly asked this Government to do something and all governments to show solidarity and not stand idly by, but that is what we are doing. The Taoiseach has told us that he feels uncomfortable with the word "apartheid", but that was the finding. Amnesty International did not say that Israel was an apartheid state. Rather, it said that Israel operated an apartheid regime. The report was specific and based on years of research.

When we talk about the egregious breaking of laws, we keep our respect if we keep a voice that is consistent, powerful and truthful so that people can rely on us and see that we have integrity and our words mean something. War is abhorrent. This is much bigger than Russia. This is much bigger than Ukraine. There is a huge threat of nuclear war. If that does not encourage us to stand back and reflect as a neutral country, God help us.

I fully support this motion and unequivocally support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. Implicit in that is the absolute right of Ukraine to determine its own future and alliances, including membership of the EU. I am pleased to see that the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly, with just nine against, to approve EU membership for Ukraine. The right to self-determination includes Ukraine's right to join NATO if that is the choice of the democratically elected Ukrainian Government. The first paragraph of this motion references our right as the Irish nation to determine our relationships with other nations. It is the same for Ukraine and, indeed, the Baltics - the tiny Estonia and the slightly larger Latvia and Lithuania - if they wish to remain members of NATO and not bow to Putin's threats. Those countries have declared their independence and have democratically elected governments. That is the beginning, middle and end of it. If we proclaim our right not to join NATO, then they have an equal right to join or not to join it.

The attack on Ukraine was premeditated and well planned, as Putin amassed his troops on the borders of Ukraine for many months, the details of which are clearly outlined in the European Parliament motion on Ukraine of 15 December. The invasion of Ukraine is another step in years of Russian action dating back to 1991 and, latterly, to 2014 and Euromaidan – support for promoting Brexit, interference in US elections, the proliferation of disinformation and cyberattacks linked to Russia, including that on our own HSE. All of this was done in an effort to destabilise, sow doubt and dissent between countries, weaken our democratic states and undermine our institutions, especially those that promote civil and human rights. While we strongly pledge our support to Ukraine, it is important to remember that this is not an isolated incident. It is part of a pattern meant to establish a new world order. It is a frightening prospect for all of us but a terrifying one for those in Kyiv and other cities.

As I drove from Sligo to Boyle this morning, a distance of just over 40 km, I could not help but think of the 40 km convoy of troops, tanks and missiles bearing down on Kyiv and the shocking despair of those waiting in bunkers and underground and those defending their city. I am afraid that we may spend many more days, weeks and even months watching our large and small screens as this unfolds in front of us and asking ourselves what we can do as individuals and collectively as a government. Many of the actions taken by Ireland as part of the EU contribute to a strong response – closing off money trails to Russian banks, freezing many of the assets of the Russian Central Bank, enforcing no-fly zones, etc. – but I have a question. I am not sure that all the loopholes have been closed. We know that money finds a way to move. Oil and gas find a way to move and they have to be paid for. I am genuinely asking whether we have done all that we can. Where the IFSC and the upwards of €118 billion in dark money moving through Dublin and on to Moscow and elsewhere are concerned, have we done everything that we can? I am not sure that our hands are clean, and if we are unsure, then now is the time to wash them.

We are not sending military hardware to Ukraine because we are neutral. I support that position. We might revisit it but that is for another day. We have contributed €10 million and will contribute a further €9.5 million. Many Irish citizens are contributing. Perhaps the Government might consider the State matching those contributions, whatever they are.

My final point is on our role in the UN. It is an area where, as a neutral state, we can make our best impact. I understand that Russia has a veto and has used it. We must not forget that, when Ireland applied to join the UN in the late 1940s, Russia vetoed our application, so it has form. As a small peacekeeping country, though, Ireland can play a niche role on the world stage. Right now, the UN is our theatre. I wish the Government well in its work in the UN.

Next is the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, who is sharing time with the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne.

I wish to add my voice to condemning the illegal and outrageous invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Russia should immediately withdraw its forces and uphold international humanitarian and human rights law.

I wish to outline for colleagues the actions that Ireland is taking to provide healthcare support to Ukraine at this time. I have asked my Department and the HSE to identify ways for Ireland to provide medical assistance. They are responding to a number of urgent requests for medical humanitarian assistance that we have received from the governments of Ukraine and bordering EU member states. The Government of Ukraine is seeking support, including emergency medical supplies, from Ireland and other EU member states directly through the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism. The Government of Ireland has offered an initial donation of medical supplies to the Government of Ukraine through this mechanism. The donation includes 10,000 bio-protection suits, 50,000 medical protective masks and 2,500 litres of disinfectant, all items requested by the Government of Ukraine.

Officials from my Department have attended EU meetings of the Health Security Committee and the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority in recent days and have heard directly from Ukrainian officials, and the deputy minister for health speaking from Kyiv, about the harrowing situation they are facing as they attempt to prepare their health services to receive civilian and military casualties. We have also heard directly from Ukraine’s neighbouring countries, including Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.

Officials from Ukraine and its neighbouring countries have indicated that their needs are rapidly changing and that we can expect further requests for assistance, including medical assistance. I have asked my Department and the HSE to identify a wider range of supports in terms of direct support to Ukraine and neighbouring countries and ensuring that Ukrainians arriving in Ireland will have access to any healthcare they may need. This work is being done in co-ordination with ongoing EU efforts. I am also speaking with some Ukrainian doctors in Ireland who are looking to have medical supplies and other healthcare assistance provided to Ukraine.

I would like to express my solidarity with the people of Ukraine and to assure them that the Irish Government stands ready to assist in any way we can as part of the national response to this terrible crisis and outrageous and illegal invasion.

Gabhaim buíochas le gach Ball a ghlac páirt sa díospóireacht. Táim buíoch go bhfuilimid d'aon ghuth ag tabhairt tacaíochta don Úcráin sa Dáil. Mar a dúramar an tseachtain seo caite agus inniu, tá sé ríthábhachtach go dtabhairfaimis ár dtacaíocht iomlán don Úcráin.

President Zelenskyy has rightly said that Ukrainians are not just fighting for Ukraine, but for what we have - peace, equality, democracy, the right to vote for who we want, the right to speak in the manner we wish, and a free media. As a nation that values these highly, it is incumbent on us all to make clear our solidarity with Ukraine. The Government's motion, which I support, states that Ireland is fully committed to the UN principles of sovereign equality and territorial integrity of states, that Ukraine has the right to ensure the security and defence of its territory, and that Ireland condemns Russian aggression in Ukraine and calls on Russia to withdraw its military.

I am aware that some negotiations were attempted between Ukraine and the aggressor states at the border between Belarus and Ukraine.

It is not clear how impactful these negotiations might be or if the Russian side recognises what it must do at a minimum, that is, withdraw all of its forces from the Ukraine, including Crimea and Donbas, cease to undermine Ukraine's territorial integrity and recognise Ukraine's sovereignty unreservedly. This, and only this, would adhere to the UN principles of sovereign equality and territorial integrity of states. The United Nations Security Council has not been able to appropriately address the Russian and Belarusian violation of UN principles due to Russia's use of its veto.

I have heard it said many times in this debate and last week as well that Ireland must use its voice at the United Nations Security Council. I take this opportunity to pay tribute to our ambassador, H.E. Ms Geraldine Byrne Nason, who gave a very evocative speech a number of weeks ago in which she spoke about Ireland's past. I refer also to that very evocative photograph of our deputy ambassador, Jim Kelly, who was voting to hold a special session of the General Assembly to counteract the Russian veto at the UN Security Council as best we could. Our diplomats and our entire team are doing tremendous work at the United Nations. We are very proud of them.

Russia cannot prevent it being held accountable for its actions. That is what we have been working on at the UN Security Council over the past few weeks. As an Irish team, we have focused on the new humanitarian crisis triggered by Russia's invasion. This futile and needless act of aggression has compounded the suffering of millions, with hundreds of thousands, perhaps more, internally displaced refugees now in need of humanitarian assistance. At this moment, in underground bunkers, underground carparks and bomb shelters, there are families, children, women, men, old and young, trying to sleep not only with the physical discomfort but mental torture that must accompany that, which none of us in this House has any experience of. It must be horrific. Let us think of those people who at this minute are sheltering in fear, many of them in the underground, it being the only possible safe place they may have because of the aggression of Russia.

Let us not forget that Russia's friend in Belarus, the autocratic dictator, President Alexander Lukashenko, is an aggressor as well. We have spoken many times about the violations of human rights and the oppression of civil society in Belarus. We have condemned the Lukashenko regime for oppressing its people and jeopardising neighbouring relations with the EU. President Lukashenko has gone too far now as well. The military build-up of Russian troops in Belarus at the border with the Ukraine, which was 1,000 km long, took place under the pretext of a joint training exercise between Russia and Belarus. President Lukashenko has not only given in to and co-operated with this Russian aggressor, he has humiliated his own country by handing over the sovereignty of Belarus to President Vladimir Putin. On Sunday, when the aggression against Ukraine was ongoing, the Belarusian regime organised a constitutional referendum which lacked any democratic review process. This was outrageous. The Belarusian people continue to protest against the internal terror and the recent aggression on Ukraine but their attempts to hold the regime accountable result in detentions and further oppression.

On the IFSC, I want it to be clear that the IFSC is not a means of evading sanctions, as has been suggested by one or two Deputies on the opposite side of the House. The proportion of funds in the IFSC that are Russian-connected is tiny. Let us not forget that the IFSC is responsible for financial services in general and for approximately 50,000 jobs in this country. Any company or person on the sanctions list will not be able to deal in the IFSC. The previous sanctions have had an impact in reducing the number of Russian funds in the IFSC. Any company or person who has been sanctioned cannot deal there. I have no doubt that following on from the announcement of the sanctions at the weekend there are people in offices around this city tonight working out, as they did yesterday, who they have stop doing business with. That is happening. That is what the sanctions are doing. There will be no escape from those sanctions. As this is a changing situation, the sanctions are constantly changing. We have gradually moved forward. I am very proud of the unity that we have shown around the European table. I am proud also of the Taoiseach, Deputy Martin, who was to the fore in proposing that the SWIFT system be subject to sanctions and on coming to the conclusion with his fellow leaders after a discussion that there was no way that leaders could leave the European Council and explain that President Putin or Foreign Minister Lavrov were not subject to sanctions so they have been subject to sanctions.

The bravery of the people of Ukraine and their commitment to democracy has been demonstrated to a previously unfathomable degree. The resistance towards invasion has been fierce. We know that the Ukrainian people rightly refuse to cede any inch of their sovereign territory. There has been a deliberate and orchestrated disinformation campaign but the Ukrainians have been able to address and give information and hope to their people. We have seen President Zelenskyy do that. The Government will continue to work at a European level. We have had two General Affairs Councils, a European Council, two Justice and Home Affairs Councils, two Foreign Affairs Councils and at this minute our diplomats are working on this issue. There is a huge amount of work going on by the Irish Government at a European Union and among parliamentarians as well.

I was quite touched when Deputy Creed referred to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Vienna. My first visit abroad as a Member of this Dáil was to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Kyiv. We were there as democrats with our fellow democrats - not all in the OSCE are democracies - representing our countries, meeting colleagues and having discussions. It is tragic to think of what is happening there today. I have no doubt that when this is over, somehow, we will look forward and work with and invest in Ukraine and its democratic future, which I have no doubt will be within the European Union.

Amendment put.

Insofar as a vote has been called, the division is deferred until the weekly division time tomorrow evening.

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