Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I echo and agree with the Deputy's remarks on at least two accounts. The first is that we all admire the bravery of the Ukrainian Government and the Ukrainian people who are resisting this attack and this attempt to take over and occupy their country. Even with regard to a city like Kharkiv, which is near the Russian border, in which most people are Russian speakers and in which there is, in many ways, a dual identity, Putin has made a big mistake. If anything, he has cemented and strengthened the Ukrainian national identity. Russian speakers and people who perhaps feel a little Russian and a little Ukrainian are feeling more Ukrainian today and are pushing back in that city against the Russian invasion. To me, that says that Ukrainians and Russians alike want to live in a democracy and are willing to fight for that, as they are now doing. I have immense admiration for those Russians who are attending protests in St. Petersburg, Moscow and other cities to say that this is not being done in their name. It is a very brave person who protests on Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg or in Red Square. We need to recognise that and offer them our solidarity and support.

One thing we need to do, which we have not done enough of in recent years, is to start defending our system a bit more. Our system is the system of the west. It is based on liberal democracy, the rule of law, the social market economy and multilateralism in international affairs. It is not a perfect system. I know that. We have lots of problems but nobody is trying to climb over walls or climbing into dinghies to get into China, Russia, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran or any of those places. We need to recognise the fact that we are very fortunate to live in a social market economy and a liberal democracy. We are fortunate to be part of organisations like the European Union and the United Nations. If anything, this attack on Ukraine should be a wake-up call for all of us to be willing to defend our system because a system worth building is worth defending. If the European Union was worth building, it is worth defending. If our independence was worth securing, it is also worth defending.

Like Deputy Barry, I do not agree that we should increase defence spending up to €3 billion. That would be too much. There are other priorities and other demands. However, I do think we need to increase defence spending. We need to pay our military personnel more. We need better equipment. We need to be able to guard our own seas. We need radar over our own airspace. The assumption that we have made for 70 years is that nobody would attack us because we are a country that is neutral militarily. Ukraine was neutral militarily. It was not part of any military alliance. It was attacked because it was politically part of the west, or at least wanted to be. We make the assumption that, even if we are attacked, the British and the Americans will come and save us anyway. I am not sure that is the kind of assumption a sovereign country like ours should make.

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