Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I compliment the Government and support the motion this evening. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The dictatorship has been in power for that length of time. The strongest rebuttal must be sent to this action from those of us in Ireland. Ireland is a neutral country, as we always claim. We must defend the persecuted people of Belarus.

I have fond memories of Adi Roche, a Clonmel woman, the children she brought and all the host families after that awful tragedy with the nuclear power station. The Irish people supported them and showed courage and generosity.

The Government with this motion will relay a clear signal to the UN and the EU that we cannot have European airspace invaded or have a plane forced down and people kidnapped from it. It is an act of war really and of total oppression. Then we hear about intimidation and mistreatment and people being forced to make false statements. It is all because they were trying to promote democracy and had the courage to oppose that dictator in an election and try to change the life of the people. Russia has to be held to account as well. While sanctions will hurt ordinary people, they are really necessary. We know how fragile democracy is. In the past 14 months we have seen in our country how fragile democracy is and how people are concerned about further erosion of power. We need to be careful. We need to send the clearest and strongest message to every country in the world that this cannot and will not be tolerated.

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