Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is a vulnerability now in the security architecture of Europe.  Germany believed in trade and in good relationships with Russia over a long period of time, certainly since the early 1990s, and had been very consistent in that.  Unfortunately, I do not believe that has been responded to by the Russian Federation over time. The latest manifestation of that is the wholesale war on Ukraine.  We already had a taste of it in 2014 with the invasion of Crimea. People like the Deputy and others in this House were very silent about it in 2014.  I refer not so much to the Deputy but to the main party opposite, which was quite silent at the time. When I raised it in this House during European debates at the time, Sinn Féin did not want to know about it.  The point I am trying to make is that the very unfair tendency in the debate is always to blame the EU.  The Deputy’s whole contribution sought to blame the EU and not Russia.  Russia has caused this war.  It makes complete sense that Europe would now reflect and look ahead.

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