Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this hugely important matter. It is one in which I have a very strong interest because I had the opportunity to attend the partnership summit in Vilnius at which the agreement to which he Deputy referred did not materialise. A number of weeks afterwards I attended the OSCE ministerial Council in Kiev and saw at first hand the pressures in the country to which he referred. On the evening of the Council I spent a number of hours on Independence Square speaking to people who expressed their huge disappointment at the government's decision not to sign an association agreement with the European Union. Since I was there three very important developments have taken place and the Deputy touched on at least one of them. The European Union made it very clear after the partnership summit that the door was open to a future agreement and finding a way of working with Ukraine. That is still the case. In the immediate aftermath of the meeting Ukraine signed a number of agreements with Russia to tighten integration.

The second development to which the Deputy directly alluded was the enactment of new laws which went through Parliament on the status of groups in Ukraine. This also impacted on the right of assembly of groups and resulted in changes to the immunity granted to Members of the Ukrainian Parliament.

The third and most worrying development has occurred in recent days. It concerns the number of people who have lost their lives and the allegations of torture which have surfaced with regard to people who were protesting against the stance of the government.

I reiterate to the House Ireland's message on all of this: violence cannot be a solution to break the impasse. We send this message to everybody involved in the dispute in Ukraine. However, it is very clear that President Yanukovych and his government have a particular responsibility to ensure violence ends before we see a further escalation.

On the Deputy's point and question about Ireland's participation in this regard, the Tánaiste participated at the Foreign Affairs Council which took place on Monday, at which a very extensive discussion took place on the situation in Ukraine. The Council expressed its deep concern about the legislation which had been passed and called on the Ukrainian Government to reverse the measures taken and ensure they were brought into line with the country's European and international commitments. The Council also stated that the only way in which this crisis could be resolved was through a democratic solution and dialogue.

With regard to the actions of the Government today, members of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade met the Ukrainian ambassador to reiterate the views I have just expressed. We must call for the utmost restraint; there has to be an immediate end to violence; and serious talks must begin between the government and the opposition to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.

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