Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

At the weekend, I found myself on the ferry back from Cherbourg, France, to Rosslare. I was returning from a series of meetings in Paris at which the challenges of the current crises, relating to energy, food security, refugees and the strategic autonomy of the European Union, were discussed in depth. While those discussions were heavy and solemn, it was not until I boarded that ferry and saw for myself the sad and exhausted faces of hundreds of Ukrainians, on the last leg of their harrowing and arduous journey, that I was struck most by the sheer horrible reality of what is unfolding before us. I commend Stena Line, whose crew was extraordinarily attentive to the needs of those Ukrainians in their care on that journey. Those I met on the ferry are the lucky ones, the ones who got away quickly or had the means to get away, and I hope they will find a new life in Ireland.

Deputy Brian Leddin: At the weekend, I found myself on the ferry back from Sherbourg, France, to Rosslare. I was returning from a series of meetings in Paris, where the challenges of the current crises, relating to energy, food security were discussed in depth,

I thought I was alone when I watched on the large television in the lounge the scenes of destruction in Mariupol. It was only when I went to leave I saw there was a woman sitting alone silently, tears streaming down her face. I felt pain for her but I cannot imagine the pain she must have felt as she saw the wilful destruction of her country and the slaughter of her fellow Ukrainians before her very eyes.

Back in Ireland, I read yesterday the words of one of her countrywomen, Ms Nadezhda Sukhorukova, in Mariupol. On her Facebook page, Ms Sukhorukova wrote:

I'm sure I'm going to die soon. That's a matter of days. In this city, everyone is constantly waiting for death. I just wish it wasn't so scary. Three days ago, there was a direct hit into the fire department. The rescuers have lost their lives. One woman's hand, leg and head were torn off. I dream of my body parts staying still, even after an air bomb blast. I don't know why, but I think this is important.

This grim prospect is a real one for hundreds of thousands of people right at this very minute on the doorstep of Europe in a country that shares our values and wants to be one of us. We have to hope that Ms Sukhorukova and her fellow citizens somehow survive but it seems there can be little hope of that as Putin's forces pulverise every square inch of Mariupol, where she and hundreds of thousands of others wait for their annihilation by Russian missiles or by the cold and starvation. Ms Sukhorukova's words will be with us for as long we live, and should we, as legislators, as people with influence, not do what we can to bring an end to this suffering, we will bear the weight of these words.

Ten days ago, the Versailles declaration was signed by EU member states. It stated, "Russia's war of aggression constitutes a tectonic shift in European history." Could it be more clear? We in Ireland should understand this and understand that the positions we have taken in the past with respect to defence, security and neutrality simply have to be reviewed. We may find that these positions no longer hold much water in the face of the tyranny we are seeing in Ukraine and the asymmetric warfare that has been unleashed. Constructive abstention may be neither the strategic nor the morally correct position to hold.

Europe, as well as NATO and the global community, has faltered since the Versailles declaration. We blinked. Repeated appeals for a no-fly zone to be instituted over Ukraine and for increased sanctions have been rebuffed and Putin has pushed on. At what point do we say, "Enough is enough"? Do our values as a Union, our commitment to the rules-based order and to the protection of human life not extend to seeking to protect aspirant nations on our doorstep? How is what we are seeing any different to what we saw in Poland in 1939 or in Yugoslavia in 1991?

Putin's end will come, hopefully sooner rather than later, but there is no possible end to the regime of Vladimir Putin that will do justice to the hundreds of thousands of victims of his terror. Europe must ensure it does everything it possibly can to bring an end to their suffering. It should stand up to the bully, the coward that is Vladimir Putin.

How prepared are we to do so? Europe is providing funding to Ukraine's defence effort for lethal and non-lethal purposes and we have introduced unprecedented sanctions. This is positive, but is it enough? At the same time, we are funding Putin's war effort by purchasing his fossil fuels to the tune of €1 billion per day. The concept of the blood diamond is well understood. This is blood oil and gas.

I have been saying in this House since I was elected two years ago that Ireland can provide clean energy, not only for its own needs but for Europe's needs also. I have always said it in the context of our necessary decarbonisation process. We have been and are going in the right direction for some time but, in my view, not as quickly as is possible or necessary. We talk about the 5 GW of offshore wind that is in the pipeline but that is to meet our domestic demand. The events of the past month, as much as the climate emergency, demand that we seek to exploit the at least 50 GW potential that is there, particularly off our south and west coasts. We need to send a signal now, not next year, to the European Union and to the international renewables sector that we have this energy and we want to exploit it quickly.

From my meetings in Paris, I was not assured that our counterparts quite understand how Ireland can help Europe. When the Taoiseach goes to the European Council, he should reiterate the Government's position that we see that liquefied natural gas, LNG, has no role for us here in Ireland. There is no technical barrier to the development of a green hydrogen economy, with green hydrogen storage for generating power on those days and weeks that may occur, as the Germans call the Dunkelflaute,where demand is high but renewable generation is low. It is a matter of policy, incentives and economics, all of which are within the gift of Europe and of Ireland to adjust so that we get the result that we need, that is, an energy system not dependent on fossil fuels and on autocrats such as Vladimir Putin. We should spare no effort in pursuing this objective as quickly as possible.

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