Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. In the first instance, along with the Deputy and in the clearest possible terms, I want to condemn Russia's aggression towards its neighbour. It is unilaterally, without any justification whatsoever, threatening and undermining the integrity of an independent democratic state, and this is unacceptable. I agree with the Deputy and I have no difficulty in agreeing a joint motion in the House because Russia's behaviour deserves the unequivocal condemnation of everyone in the House. Our country's support for Ukrainian sovereignty, territorial integrity and its right to choose its own foreign and security policy is unwavering.

We have to send out a clear and strong signal in terms of our support for Ukrainian sovereignty. We made that clear at the UN Security Council emergency meeting, which was held on 21 January, and this continues to be our position. The situation at the Security Council in itself is challenging. Russian is a permanent member of the Council and has veto power. We have witnessed a major escalation, which clearly contravenes international law in terms of the Russian decision to proceed with recognition of the non-government controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent entities. The decision to move military personnel to those areas represents a major escalation and creates a challenging situation all round.

In terms of sanctions, we are part of the EU-wide sanctions regime. The European Union along with the United States, and working in concert with other like-minded countries that value democracy, have agreed a range of sanctions in terms of the listing of individuals, 27 influential oligarchs, business people, politicians, and military leaders, the Russian minister for defence, military commanders leading the operation, individuals from the media, propaganda sectors, 351 MPs in the Russian Duma who voted for the recognition, of which 22 are already listed, the listing of entities and asset freeze. This is in addition to the myriad of Crimea-related sanctions regime in terms of imports and exports into the Donbas region, as well as financial restrictions prohibiting on lending to the Russian central bank, and asset freezes of two private banks.

On the IFSC and the report to which the Deputy referred in respect of 2005 and 2017 and billions being funnelled through the IFSC to Russian entities, we will share in any sanctions with the European Union and we will support all sanctions, including the targeting of the ability of the Russian state to access the European Union's capital and financial markets, which will be a significant sanction in itself. The financial services offering of the IFSC, as the Deputy knows, relates to special purpose vehicles. Since 2018, legislation has been enacted in regard to money laundering and other matters.

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