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

This debate in under way and will continue over the coming weeks and months. We look forward to participating fully in that debate. Part of the debate has to be the question of the links European governments had with the Putin regime and its supporters, including the blind eye that was turned in this country. Some €118 billion worth of wealth was sloshing through the IFSC from Russian entities between 2005 and 2017, dirty money laundered by oligarchs etc. Why was a blind eye turned to this within a 15-minute walk of Leinster House? Did the Government and Government Ministers really think this was just pensioner savings or communion money that was being kept in the IFSC? We would argue that, in reality, the only consistent opponent of Putin and Russian gangster oligarch capitalism down through the years has been the socialist left. This is part of the debate. We look forward to engaging in that debate. We are confident that our ideas will echo strongly among ordinary Irish people.

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