Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I express my solidarity with the Ukrainian people at this time, and to those Ukrainian families living in my constituency who are no doubt terrified for their families and friends back home. As a citizen of a country that understands the impact of occupation and imperialist aggression, I offer whatever support I can to these people.

I also add my full condemnation of the actions of the Russian President. We debated in this House previously that Ireland must use its seat on the United Nations Security Council more robustly. We must now do whatever we can to stop this war and ensure the rights of the Ukrainian people to a peaceful future as a sovereign independent state.

As a militarily neutral state, Ireland has played a widely recognised role in peacekeeping and in the battle against nuclear proliferation. The Russian President's actions must be roundly condemned. No country should be subjected to the kind of military aggression and destruction that has been brought to the people of Ukraine.

I also extend my solidarity to those ordinary citizens of Russia who are brave enough to protest against this war imposed by President Putin and have been arrested in their thousands. We must make every effort as a country to sanction Russia here in this State. We need to make our position very clear by expelling the Russian ambassador and ending the practices within the International Financial Services Centre that facilitated the €118 billion being funnelled from this State to Russia's oligarchs. We must use every democratic process available to us to impose sanctions and to bring a speedy and peaceful resolution to stop this war.

We must redouble our diplomatic efforts while simultaneously supporting Ukrainian people and sanctions against the regimes that are now in place. Democracy, international law, human rights and peace are what we must focus on. Sinn Féin supports the Government's decision to contribute to Ukraine via the purchase of protective equipment. Our neutral status puts us in a unique position to work with others to end the war which is causing so much suffering to the people across Ukraine. The EU must act with sanctions on such a scale that there can be no doubt that we will not stand by and allow Putin to continue his imperialist ambitions in Ukraine.

I would like to make a comment in response to Deputy Richmond. The most recent poll, which was discussed last night on the Claire Byrne show, shows very clearly that the vast majority of people - in fact, 76% of the 1,000 people who were polled - want Ireland to maintain its neutral status, and that must be heard.

To conclude, let me reiterate my condemnation of the actions of Russia and my solidarity to the Ukrainian people and to all those countries which are suffering at the hands of oppressors, like the Palestinian people at the hands of Israel. It is time for the UN and this Government to stand up and stand firm for all small nations under occupation.

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