Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We have all made statements and some could argue they fall between being trite and overplaying the issue but this is one situation where we can say with hand on heart that the world has utterly changed. We never thought we would be dealing with a case of 10 million displaced people, comprising 3.5 million who have left Ukraine and 6.5 million who have been internally displaced. It is hard to believe that is modern-day Europe. If someone had told us this a couple of weeks ago, I do not think we would have believed it but this is the world we are dealing with. We are dealing with a particular type of Russian regime under Vladimir Putin. Surrender threats have been directed at Mariupol and we have seen the action and the ordnance that has been used. Many Members, including Deputy Brady, have spoken about how that city is to be added to the long list of places that have been hammered beyond recognition. I refer, for example, to Grozny, Dresden, even Coventry in Britain and a large number of other areas. We had never considered that we would see so many in Europe nowadays. There are also places in Syria and Palestine that have suffered to the same degree, and I reiterate there has been a failure on the West's part to deal with these issues.

Nevertheless, I get it. First and foremost at this point, we are dealing with Russia. We really need to get to the bottom of what is needed from the point of view of sanctions. When the Ukrainian ambassador, Ms Larysa Gerasko, appeared before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Union Affairs, she spoke about the need to cut off the seaports and outlined how the Department of Foreign Affairs has been given a list of businesses that are still trading with Russia. I accept that the world is complicated and interconnectivity in business and other matters is far more developed and intertwined than many of us had believed - Brexit gave us the first inclination in that regard - but we must do all we can. It is not okay to allow a free flow of money to Russia and its proxies that allows for this war to be fought.

There has been much talk about militarisation and my argument in that regard is that it does not serve a purpose for the EU to be further militarised. Obviously, Ukraine wants to become part of the EU and we certainly do not want militarisation to become part of the negotiating gambit when we arrive, as I hope we will, at a time when straight and real negotiations take place to bring about a diplomatic end to this absolute horror, which will have a significant impact on those people who are suffering under the barrage of Russian ordnance but which will also have an impact throughout wider Europe. Alongside the humanitarian response we need to get in place - I am not sure we have all our t's crossed and i's dotted, and we need to ensure we are hearing the concerns of local authorities - we need to ensure we have covered all the bases and that all the moneys that can be removed will be removed. We must facilitate, insofar as possible, an end to this abject and absolute horror.

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