John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I express solidarity with the Ukrainian people. I warmly welcome the many thousands of Ukrainians who have fled to Ireland to seek protection. I recognise the warmth, generosity of spirit and community involvement exhibited right across the island of Ireland towards those Ukrainian citizens, primarily women and children, who have sought refuge. The response of the Irish has to be commended. I include the efforts of people such as Colette Talbot, Nicole Browne and David Whyte from my county, Wicklow. They have just returned after delivering badly needed humanitarian supplies at the Ukrainian border. People such as Neil Treanor and Willie Coster, and many others, are still there helping to address the refugee crisis. The scale of the humanitarian crisis and the sheer human cost of this war mean the number of war refugees whom we anticipate will reach Ireland over the coming months could well run to more than 200,000. The EU needs to adopt an approach to dealing with the humanitarian fallout from the war in Ukraine that is similar to that developed to assist Europe in the recovery after Covid. Maximising the effectiveness of our response in Ireland will require a cross-party approach. The Government now faces the responsibility of putting in place the necessary systems to deal with the demands that have arisen from the unprecedented situation. The fluidity of the situation places a responsibility on the Government to ensure the Opposition is kept fully informed and briefed continually as to what is happening. There is also a need to put in place a single point of contact for Members of the Oireachtas to provide information concerning the broad swathe of public services that Deputies are being, and will be, called upon to source for refugees in their constituencies.

Next week, I will be part of a delegation from the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs that will visit eastern Europe, where we will examine how countries such as Moldova and Romania are attempting to deal with the refugee crisis. While we will be holding high-level meetings with our European counterparts, we will also be visiting border crossings to witness at first hand the scale of the exodus from Ukraine. We will also be attempting to identify the needs of the refugees and the efforts Ireland can make at source to alleviate some of their suffering. The ferocity, inhumanity and deliberate targeting of civilian targets apparent in the Russian strategy mean those who have fled the war are seriously traumatised by what they witnessed and have had to endure. The majority of the refugees are women and children. Large numbers of children are crossing the Ukrainian border unaccompanied. Some of these have arrived in Ireland traumatised and vulnerable.

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There are also reports that vulnerable refugees are facing further threats from human traffickers who are targeting women and children at border crossings. We need to develop a presence on the ground to work with local authorities to help to guarantee the safety of vulnerable refugees.

Ambassadors from Poland, Moldova and Romania appeared before a committee recently. The Ukrainian ambassador appealed to the Government to charter aircraft to bring refugees directly from refugee centres at the Ukrainian border, where there has been an increase in congestion and overcrowding, because overpricing is preventing refugees who have lost everything from securing flights without assistance. There is a need to alleviate the pressure before it precipitates a further humanitarian crisis in refugee centres.

I also want to welcome the decision by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to investigate allegations of price gouging by Ryanair, allegations made by the Ukrainian ambassador. It is important that a message goes out that Ireland will not tolerate any war profiteering. I look forward to hearing the outcome of the Minister's investigation.

Today, we have also heard reports that people are now starving to death in Mariupol. Russia needs to facilitate humanitarian corridors to allow life preserving supplies to reach besieged civilians. It is also important to note that Russia is blockading Ukrainian ports and preventing badly needed food supplies, in particular grain, from leaving for poorer countries which are highly dependent on Ukraine as a source of grain. Ireland has a responsibility to use its role on the UN Security Council and at EU level to ensure that international focus is maintained on the food crisis in other sites of humanitarian crisis.

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