Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The world is watching with alarm the shocking events that are unfolding in Ukraine. What we are witnessing is unprecedented in Europe since the Second World War - a full-scale assault and invasion of one state by another. This attack is unprovoked and unjustified and will cause needless death, injury and suffering among the Ukrainian people. As the violence escalates and bombs explode across Ukraine, there is growing panic among the population as they attempt to flee to safety.

Over the past few weeks, Ukrainian citizens living in Ireland have been pleading with the Government to allow them to offer a safe place of shelter for their parents and family members. In most European countries, there is no visa requirement for visitors from Ukraine. This has meant over the past few weeks people have been able to take in their parents and offer them somewhere safe to say to protect them from war. It is no more than any of us would want to do for our parents if they were faced with the same terrifying situation.

What they requested was simple and straightforward. They asked that the Government would waive the visa requirements so that they could take their parents into their homes and provide them with somewhere safe. Irish people living in the Ukraine with family members who are Ukrainian citizens have been unable to get visas for the family members, including for their sons and daughters. This has meant that they have been unable to leave and come home to safety in Ireland. There lives are now being put at very serious risk.

The response from the Government to these pleas for assistance was to say that all visa applications would be dealt with as quickly and humanely as possible but the reality is people have faced significant bureaucratic hurdles making it extremely difficult to obtain a visa. Being asked to surrender your passport to the Irish Consulate for a period of up to ten weeks at a time of war has made the application process virtually impossible. With the country under attack and with martial law declared, it will now be extremely difficult for anyone to leave the country.

I acknowledge the hard work done by the Department of Foreign Affairs in recent weeks in assisting Irish parents whose children were born to surrogate mothers in Ukraine. Consular teams worked through the night to ensure that those families could get home. The same support needs to be given to families seeking to bring their loved ones to safety in Ireland.

I welcome that a waiver of visas for Ukraine citizens has finally been announced by the Taoiseach in the past hour. Regrettably, this announcement has come very late. Is this waiver in place immediately, what practical support will be given to families to help them get their loved ones to safety in Ireland and will Ireland commission more flights from Katowice in Poland?

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