Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Higgins should bear in mind that the people of Ukraine wanted to join with Western countries for the development of their economy. Mr. Yanukovych decided he should do deals with Russia over their heads and the people rebelled. Mr. Yanukovych left and his party in government changed its view. Therefore this is not meddling by the EU but the invitation of the Ukrainian people and the Government in Kiev to sign political agreements with the EU instead of with Russia. It is not a case of invasion or pressure by the EU to force them to look West. I agree with Deputy Higgins that the winners here should be the people of Ukraine. The question is whether they will be given the right to determine that in their forthcoming elections.

In Ossetia, Transnistria, Moldova and Chechnya, Russia has given passports to ethnic Russians and sent people in to take over at the equivalent of council offices and block the streets of the towns, provoking incidents and creating a need for protection. That is why protectorates have grown up, with Mr. Putin's stated ambition of restoring the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, USSR, to its former glory. That is why the people of Ukraine said they wanted to open their doors and borders to the EU. I disagree with Deputy Higgins's argument that Europe was forcing the pace. Europe was requested, invited and encouraged, and in response it encouraged the people in Ukraine to do business with the West. The oligarchs Deputy Higgins mentioned are very favourable in the eastern Ukraine region towards the Kiev Government and have an interest in seeing their people are able to do business with the EU. We do not want any more situations of subsidised gas, which created billions of euro for particular people over the past number of years.

Deputy Higgins argued that Europe has meddled in the affairs of Ukraine, but a number of years ago the per capita income of Ukraine and Poland was the same, while now the per capita income of Poland is many multiples of that of Ukraine.

That is why the people of Ukraine aspire to getting out of the position in which they find themselves - so they can have greater prosperity, development of the economy and the right to live and have jobs.

Everybody has a right to be left alone, but that is not what happened in Crimea. I am well aware of the events of World War I, what happened in Sarajevo and the slaughter of so many mainly young men in the so-called war to end all wars. If Lord Raglan, Lord Lucan and General Nolan had got their directions correct, we might not have lost the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava in Crimea, over 130 of whom were Irish horsemen. The Deputy knows those names from history.

I do not accept that this is a case of Europe wanting to barge into Ukraine and argue that the country must join the Union. This was the wish of the people in Ukraine and it was not respected by the then President Yanukovych, so the popular revolution left him to flee to eastern Ukraine, with the government in Kiev focusing on the West. Russia clearly does not like this and it made its move into the Crimea. As a response, the European Union and other countries are imposing various types of sanction. These are to counteract illegal action that is to the detriment of freedom of democracy. It is a response to the invasion of the territorial integrity of Ukraine. This territory was handed over by Khrushchev in the 1950s and has now been annexed again by Russia. This matter will continue to be a source of much difficulty in the time ahead.

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