Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am going to get to the heart of the matter. What can we do for the Ukrainian people at the moment? First and foremost, they are looking for humanitarian aid. We need to get food out there. There is a co-ordinated European approach, and it needs to happen immediately. We need to fast-track Ukraine's membership of the EU. That will send a strong statement to the Russians that we are four-square behind the Ukrainians.

I wish to refer to the security of the State. We had the Irish Aviation Authority before the transport committee on 2 February. The only country that flew aeroplanes near Ireland without transponders on was Russia. There have been five incidents in total since 2017: one in 2017, three in 2020 and one in 2021. As a country, we need to invest heavily in proper radar equipment. It will cost between €100 million and €200 million. That needs to happen as a matter of urgency. There is great frustration among the public as well as the body politic at the behaviour of the Russian ambassador to Ireland. However, we have Irish citizens in Russia and Irish citizens in Ukraine and we must look after their interests as well. That is why it is most important that we maintain the embassies in those specific countries.

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