Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. The Labour Party strongly and warmly welcomes this resolution. I thank the Government for responding to last week's request from our leader, Deputy Kelly, for this motion in order that the House could act together and the voice of elected representatives of the people could be very clearly heard.

The last six days have been among the most momentous and frightening in Europe since the end of the Second World War. The settlement we Europeans thought existed, one that underpinned peace on our Continent, has been fundamentally undermined and attacked. This Dáil must be clear and united in our response. We previously heard in statements some few comments beginning with: "Putin is evil but what about ..." There is no space now for whataboutery. The single and clear issue before the House is the invasion of a member state of the UN, which is a sovereign and independent state, by a neighbour with the objective or removing its democratic administration and making it a vassal state. When we spoke about these issues last week I said President Putin's aims are stated clearly. He has not hidden what he intends to do. He wants the restoration of a super-Russian state that reabsorbs into its territory the now-independent former Soviet republics. The views, wishes, hopes and expectations of the citizens of those states are of no interest to Vladimir Putin.

We are watching the news as it unfolds on an hourly basis and today may be a critical one in the conduct of this war of aggression. As we have all seen, hundreds of tanks are within kilometres of the centre of Kyiv. Rockets have landed in the centre of Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv. It is alleged, and I believe it, that cluster bombs, which are banned in many countries, have been deployed against civilian targets. The humanitarian consequences of these actions are horrific and wholly unacceptable.

We have stated repeatedly we stand with the people of Ukraine. In his presentation via video link to the European Parliament earlier, however, the Ukrainian President, Mr. Zelenskiy, gave a real challenge to all of us when he said: "Prove that you are with us". What then can we do? What more can we do? I have a number of suggestions. I am sorry the Minister for Justice has left as I wanted her to hear my direct appeal to her, like the one I made earlier to the Taoiseach. I call for the immediate enactment - and I mean this week - of the Proceeds of Crime (Gross Human Rights Abuses) Bill 2020, the so-called Magnitsky Act, which is on the Order Paper of this Dáil and has passed Second Stage. It aims to expand our existing proceeds of crime legislation, namely, the one that created the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, to take and seize ill-gotten gains and to put the onus of responsibility on those who are holding those gains to explain where they got them and to prove they are legitimate. In the Bill I have proposed we wanted to define certain conduct occurring outside the State, in places like Ukraine and places like Israel, as criminal conduct if that conduct constitutes or is connected with a gross abuse of human rights. Under the Bill, conduct is stated to constitute "a gross human rights abuse if ... it is carried out by, or at the instigation or with the consent or acquiescence of ... public official[s]".

We need to ensure that the pals of Putin who have stashed money all over the world, probably including in this jurisdiction, can have that removed from them. That is the most damaging thing we can do to them. I believe that the Bill has all-party support and a strong move we could make would be to provide time in the House this week to pass its remaining Stages and make it law.

We could also accept refugees from Ukraine. I welcome the Minister for Justice's comment that the temporary protection measure that she outlined is in place, but the numbers she mentioned are tiny so far. Today, the United Nations stated that 660,000 people had left Ukraine for fear of their lives and well-being. The visa requirement to get to Ireland has been removed but we must be more proactive than that. We are on the periphery and our European neighbours are taking in massive numbers of people and are desperately struggling to provide them with accommodation, food and the basics of living. We need to plan - almost on a war footing - for the reception of refugees and for welcoming not only families of Ukrainian nationals resident in Ireland, but many more who need shelter from the ongoing conflict. We need to have clear and unambiguous plans funded and set out.

Yesterday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed an application for EU membership. It is his and his people's declaration that they look towards Europe for their future. It was a massive political statement. We must respond in kind. We must agree to declare Ukraine an EU candidate country, which I understand was the majority decision of the European Parliament in the past 24 hours.

An investigation into potential war crimes has been opened by the International Criminal Court. Let all aggressors take note – there must be a complete and exhaustive examination of their actions in Ukraine. We must tell them clearly now that anyone involved in the war crimes being perpetrated against the innocent people of Ukraine will be held to account. Even if it takes years to do it, we will follow it up. The world community is clear and united in that regard. Hopefully, this will have some impact on reducing the enthusiasm of some of the Putinistas for their ongoing vicious campaign of oppression.

Yesterday, I had the task and great honour of moving a resolution of solidarity with Ukraine at the plenary session of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly in London. Needless to say, it was carried unanimously by representatives of democratic parliaments on all these islands, representing England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. We sent our support to the people of Ukraine and our fellow parliamentarians in the Ukrainian Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. Democracy is often spoken about in all of our assemblies but it is under specific and brutal assault today on our Continent.

It is unclear how this invasion will end, although we already know that nothing will be the same after the attack. All of us in this House and all the people we represent fear for the Ukrainian people in these dark hours. We admire their courage and strength, their resolution and their bravery. We watch in amazement and admiration their courage, as well as the courage of those Russian men and women who have taken to the streets in cities across Russia demanding peace and the withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine.

Russia will take its own course but we – people who are committed to the rule of law and democracy – cannot tolerate a return to a Europe that we thought we had put behind us in previous decades and centuries where aggression, conflict and subjugation existed. Our determined and clear resolve as a Parliament must be to stand with Europe, stand with Ukraine and give a clear message to the valiant people of that benighted country in their hour of great need.

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