Dáil debates

Wednesday, 6 April 2022

Post-European Council Meeting: Statements

 

1:40 pm

Photo of Fergus O'DowdFergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Listening to President Zelenskyy this morning was a very moving experience. His words were thoughtful and reflective. The truths he told about the appalling things that are happening to his fellow citizens in Ukraine are shocking and horrifying. Worse is probably yet to come. Putin's soldiers are massacring civilians and razing cities to the ground just like the Nazis did in the Second World War. What is happening is shocking and unbelievable.

Some people in this House have spoken about Israel. That is fine. That is their right and their entitlement. During the Second World War, one in every four Jews killed was massacred by the Nazis in Ukraine. We cannot ignore what happened to the Jews right around Europe during the Second World War.

In the play Julius Caesar, it is stated about Caesar that, "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones." So let it be with Putin when his time comes. He will be remembered forever for the evil he has done. Coming from Drogheda, I am reminded of a previous evil person, Oliver Cromwell, who slaughtered most of the inhabitants of my town. Just as Cromwell slaughtered inhabitants and deported citizens of Ireland at that time, Putin is doing the same by removing people from where they live in Ukraine and bringing them under arrest to Russia. That is entirely unacceptable.

The lessons we are learning today are very serious and will be long-lasting. The world has changed utterly. Ireland is taking the right steps in the right way at the heart of our policy on Europe. President Zelenskyy clarified his support for what the Government is doing and stated the need to continue to support Ukraine's policy. Any steps we can take in the United Nations to further support the advent of peace in this war must be accepted and lauded. For the generations to come, for the young people being born today, for my grandchildren, other Members' children and so on, we need to ensure Europe is stable, with Ireland at its heart. This dictator, Putin, must be put down by any means necessary. As a neutral country, we can only go so far but every possible effort we can make must be supported and advanced. At the heart of all of this is the fact that evil can never triumph and good must win in the end.

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