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

I thank the Deputy. Far too many people in the west, including many western European governments, turned a blind eye to President Putin for too long. We saw that after the Crimea crisis. That sent a message to him that the west was weak and I would say he started making his plans around about then to take the rest of Ukraine. However, it is not just about governments or government ministers. Anyone who has expressed pro-Putin sentiments or who has been an apologist for Putin now has questions to answer. There are a lot of them in Ireland, some in this House, and many outside of this House. They should now be held to account for statements they made in the past that were soft on the Russian regime and for being apologists for Putin in any way. Quite a number of them would consider themselves to be part of the socialist left. I do not mean Deputy Barry but I can identify quite a number of people who would consider themselves to be socialists or part of the socialist left who have appeared on Russia Today, who have been apologists for Putin and who have consistently made statements that are supportive of that regime and that man. They need to be held to account now.

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