Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It was an excellent question posed by Deputy Lahart on the purpose and efficacy of sanctions. Of course, the purpose of these sanctions must be to stop the war in Ukraine and bring Russia to the quite natural and obvious end, which is the negotiating table. Therefore, it is crucial that on a daily basis we analyse the impact of the decisions made and further decisions that could be made. We operate in partnership with the EU and as a member of the UN Security Council but, crucially, we must be guided by an independent Irish foreign policy that is based on our historic military neutrality. That means we can play a positive and constructive role in securing what the peoples of Ukraine and all over Europe are demanding, quite correctly, which is an end to the criminal Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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