Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputies Lahart and Devlin.

The decision to invade Ukraine is President Putin's war of choice. His analysis of Russian-Ukrainian relations, published last July, is in effect his war manifesto. In that document, he rejects the concept of Ukrainian independence and Ukrainian sovereignty. In that paper, he asserts his belief that the people of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine are one people and should share one geographical and political space. He talks about Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians as being one family, yet now we see that he has turned his guns on his Ukrainian brothers and sisters.

Four weeks ago, the Russian ambassador, Mr. Yury Filatov, speaking before the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, which I chair, said that any invasion of Ukraine would be insane. He repeated the same statement on national television. Last week, his President, Mr. Putin, gave the order to invade Ukraine. Does the ambassador in Dublin now believe that President Putin is insane?

The invasion of Ukraine is the latest in a very long line of Russian and Putin aggression. Look at Chechnya, Georgia, Moldova, Crimea, Syria, Kazakhstan and Belarus. Under his leadership, assassinations, poisonings and oppression of dissent also became his modus operandi. Cyberattacks originating in Russia and interference in elections and the internal politics of many countries have been other common features of Russian aggression. The failure of the Russian political and military elites to restrain him and the failure of the international community to realise the danger he posed emboldened him further. Indeed, President Putin perceived the West as weak and decadent.

In Ukraine, however, President Putin has miscalculated. He has overreached. The international response has been impressive on many fronts and is becoming more effective day by day. Ukrainian resistance is stronger than President Putin had anticipated. Opposition to the war is growing within Russia and will grow even further in the days and weeks ahead.

There is now a clear choice facing the Russian military, political, business and diplomatic establishment - stay with him or remove him from office. If they stay with him, some like President Putin will find themselves, as Deputy Howlin has rightly said, before the International Criminal Court answering for war crimes in Ukraine. I support the gathering of evidence now towards a case against Mr. Putin and his henchmen in the International Criminal Court.

The invasion of Ukraine has been a rude wake-up for many countries in Europe, none more so than Germany. Many believed that trade with Russia would change Russian politics. What has happened instead is that much of Europe has become dependent on Russian gas and Russian dirty money, which has corrupted business and, in some cases, politics in some European countries. There is a danger that change through trade works both ways. Indeed, there have been suggestions of Russian dirty money in Ireland, which need to be assessed and analysed by the Government, which I support on a daily basis.

Ireland's geographical location has protected this country in many ways. It is interesting to compare Ireland's relationship with the UK during 100 years of independence and Russia's relationship with Ukraine's 30 years of independence.

We in Ireland also have been sheltered from external threats by the NATO umbrella. To a large extent, we have enjoyed the luxury of being bystanders as regards security and defence. This approach is no longer a credible option. Ireland's well-being and prosperity is dependent upon the European Union and our positive and strong relations with other western countries, in particular the United States of America. What is worth having is worth defending. As a country we must now be prepared to shoulder a fair share of the burden of European defence and security. The European Union and the United States of America have been strong supporters of Ireland and of the Irish peace process. The European Union in particular, but also the United States of America, have had our back and continue to do so in the crisis relating to the withdrawal of our nearest neighbour, the United Kingdom, from the European Union.

Now is the time for Ireland to look at where it stands on the issue of European security and defence. We recently and coincidentally had the publication of a very wide-ranging and long-awaited independent report on the future of our Defence Forces. It also presents us with an opportunity to answer many of the serious questions that are now being posed on the streets of Ireland as to where we stand and how stand our Defence Forces. These are questions that this Dáil must return to on a regular basis. They are questions that we need to address. In the meantime, I strongly support this motion.

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