Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I want to express my solidarity with the people of Ukraine. We have watched our television screens in horror as their country has been invaded, their cities attacked, homes destroyed and their lives taken or shattered. I state my support for the right of the ordinary Ukrainian people to defend themselves and resist, arms in hand, the invaders who threaten their homes and lives. It is for the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian people alone to decide their own future, with a right to self-determination for minorities.

I condemn this invasion. The Putin regime is murderous. It employs force at home to enforce its dictatorial rule over its own people and force abroad to advance it imperialist objectives, namely, its lust for power and profit. Russian troops must be withdrawn back to their barracks in Russia and out of Ukraine.

I oppose those in the ruling classes in the West who would exploit this crisis to advance their imperialist and militarist objectives. This includes the German Government, which plans to immediately treble its spending on arms. It also includes the US political and military establishment, which plays the lead role in NATO and which killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people in a war for oil.

I also oppose the agenda of this Irish Government, which seeks to align its foreign policy more closely with NATO. Despite the comments made by Deputy Lahart in this debate, the comments of Deputy Flanagan in the House and the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, on the radio show the real agenda, which will be opposed from this section of the House.

I salute those brave Russian people who have taken to the streets to oppose this war. I note that 1 million Russian people have signed petitions again the war. Petitions will not stop Putin, of course, but 1 million people in the streets of Russia will represent not only a massive challenge to the war itself, but quite possibly, the beginning of the end of the Putin regime. Protests and strikes on the streets of Russia marked the beginning of the end of the First World War, tsarist rule and capitalism in that country. I hope that historical example can be repeated.

In conclusion, I call on workers and young people in this country to take inspiration from the heroism of ordinary Ukrainians and follow the example of the Russian anti-war movement, and take to the streets here in massive numbers to say "No" to this war and build an anti-war movement. That is something we need now in every country of the world.

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