Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

The world is horrified by Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, by the war crimes which are now being committed and by the threat of this spiralling into a full-scale hot war between nuclear powers. We unreservedly condemn this brutal invasion and we demand that Putin withdraw from Ukraine, immediately and unconditionally. I want to pay tribute to the anti-war protesters in Russia who are under conditions of horrendous repression. More than 1 million people have signed a petition, tens of thousands have come out onto the streets and in excess of 6,000 have been arrested. Will the Taoiseach join with me in calling for those prisoners to be released?

I want to ask if the Taoiseach agrees with the Tánaiste’s comments, which clearly point towards an undermining of Ireland’s long-standing position of military neutrality? The Tánaiste said, “I do see us getting more involved in European defence”. On Permanent Structured Cooperation, PESCO, he says that it offers one route to deeper involvement in European defence. He talked about removing the requirement for the UN Security resolution for Ireland’s participation in military operations. Does the Taoiseach oppose the very cynical attempt to use people's horror at what is happening in Ukraine to drive through a Fine Gael agenda to abandon neutrality and align with NATO?

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