Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will do my best. I welcome the opportunity to consider our reaction and that of the Government to the crisis in Ukraine. I am on record as standing in solidarity with the people of the Ukraine in the context of the appalling and aggressive war perpetrated by Russia.

We have done the right thing in opening our doors. We need more practical information regarding what is happening on the ground. I know that Galway has opened its doors. While it is not a competition, Galway is the third county in the country to open its doors. I understand two hotels - one in Galway city and the other in Connemara - are involved. I would dearly love some information on that issue as I have received emails regarding volunteers on the ground being overwhelmed. I will park that for the moment. We are doing the right thing.

Part of this is about our reactions. If our reaction is now to go down the road of getting rid of our neutrality as a result of this war, that is totally wrong and unacceptable. This morning, the Minister quoted Desmond Tutu as saying, "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." He was absent from the Chamber when I addressed this earlier, so I will repeat it. First, there are many other things Desmond Tutu said that the Minister could have quoted to capture the peaceful man he was - a person who abhorred war on every level. The Minister did not do so. The suggestion or innuendo is that we who stand up and say not to carry out war in our name and not to get rid of our neutrality are somehow on the side of the oppressor-----

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