Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

When we are debating the response of the Government to the war in Ukraine, we have to look at both its political response and its humanitarian response. The response under both headings has been very good. It has been compassionate and accurate. On the political response, the Government is to be commended for having identified unambiguously where fault for this war lies. It unambiguously lies with the expansionist and imperialist policies of Vladimir Putin's regime. It does not rest with any desire for expansion on the part of the EU, with NATO expansionism or with expansionism on the part of the United States. It unambiguously lies with Vladimir Putin's regime. The Government has been very clear in emphasising that and I commend it on doing so.

The Government has also been clear in identifying the solution. The only solution to this is the removal of Putin's forces from independent Ukraine. We have to be clear and reassert that unambiguously. It can sometimes be difficult for a neutral State to be listened to when talking about an armed conflict but let that not silence us because we come with a strong voice in the world and we should unambiguously repeat the fact that Putin needs to remove his forces from independent Ukraine.

We also need to look at the humanitarian response of the Government to date, which has been commendable. That response reflects the view and charity of the Irish people. To date, we have accepted 15,000 Ukrainian refugees. As the Minister has indicated, that number is going to rise. We also need to be clear and honest with Irish people that, once the offers of accommodation have been exhausted, it will become increasingly difficult for the State to provide that level of accommodation.

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We still find ourselves in situations where emergency accommodation is being provided in places that we would not regard as suitable. We need to be honest with the public about the challenges we face.

When looking at the overall response, we need to have a general recognition and respect for democracy. Democracy is in its infancy throughout the world. In the history of the world, democracy has only existed in countries for 100 years or so. Let us consider what the poor Russian people have gone through for the past 400 years. They had 300 years of the Romanov tsars. They then managed to get rid of them and they were replaced by the tyrannical Marxist-Leninist regime that ruined the lives of people and deprived them of human rights for 80 years. After that they have been subjected to Vladimir Putin. I suspect the real fear that Vladimir Putin has is not the arrival of missiles in neighbouring countries, but the arrival of democracy into those countries, particularly democracy as epitomised by the European Union. I wish democracy to the Russian people.

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