Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to be opening this debate, which has as its main focus the measures the Government is putting in place to address the accommodation needs of those fleeing Ukraine. Thus far, more than 27,000 people have arrived in Ireland from Ukraine. This is why the co-ordinated whole-of-government response that we have put in place is so crucial.

Our domestic response cannot be divorced from the international context. Ireland's continued diplomatic support for Ukraine is an important part of today's debate also. We are maintaining close and regular contact with the Ukrainian Government. The Taoiseach met the Ukrainian Prime Minister on 20 April and on 14 April, I visited Ukraine, including the town of Bucha. As part of this visit, I met with my defence and foreign affairs counterparts. I was the first foreign minister to visit Kyiv since the Russian invasion on 24 February.

After witnessing the shocking aftermath of the devastation in Bucha, I expressed to the mayor of Bucha the sincere condolences of the Irish Government and people. I committed to bearing witness to those terrible atrocities and to raising the situation internationally. I know that I have the full support of this House when I say that those who perpetrated these heinous crimes must be brought to justice. On 19 April, as promised to the mayor of Bucha and the foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, I briefed the UN Security Council on my visit. I described how I stood at the edge of one of the mass graves, where the work of carefully exhuming bodies continues. At that stage, 503 civilians had been identified, and just four soldiers. These are 503 individual human beings, men, women and children, who were not combatants and yet who appear to have been deliberately killed, in some cases having been tortured in a brutal manner before that happened. In that city I saw first-hand the devastating impact of the use of explosive weapons, including prohibited cluster munitions, by Russian forces in populated areas, without regard for civilians. Homes, hospitals and schools have been destroyed.

At the UN Security Council I was clear that these facts speak to a total disregard by Russian forces for their clear international obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians. I also highlighted that Ireland is supporting all efforts to bring an end to the conflict through all diplomatic means available, to hold Russia accountable, and to call out Russia's cynical attempts to use the Security Council and other UN bodies to spread disinformation about supposed biological or chemical programmes in Ukraine.

Ireland joined more than 40 countries in referring the situation in Ukraine to the International Criminal Court, ICC. While I was in Kyiv, I announced a further €3 million in funding to the ICC, €1 million of which will be dispersed immediately to the office of the prosecutor. This will assist in the investigation of the situation in Ukraine, along with other situations the court is involved in. In addition to the ICC's investigation and joining the Group of Friends of Accountability, we have also supported the Human Rights Council and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, to use their own accountability mechanisms to bring to light the full truth of Russia's actions in Ukraine and to document and seek accountability for human rights abuses there.

As these efforts continue, we also need to address immediate humanitarian needs. Thus far, Ireland has allocated €20 million in direct humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and neighbouring countries via the International Committee of the Red Cross and other UN agencies. This includes a dedicated Ukraine civil society fund of €2 million specifically to support NGOs responding to the crisis. We are also providing support through core funding of UN agencies, including early disbursement of our annual contributions for 2022, in order that they can adequately plan and deliver crucial assistance. Ireland has provided emergency medical supplies to Ukraine, including nine ambulances, in response to requests from the Ukrainian Government. We are offering medical evacuation support and two Ukrainian paediatric patients have been treated in Ireland to date. Four rapid responders have also been selected for deployment with UN agencies in Ukraine and in neighbouring countries. The EU is providing €1.5 billion in a package from the European peace facility to support the Ukrainian armed forces and Ireland is contributing its full share, which is just over 2% or €33 million thus far. Our focus is on military assistance outside of lethal weaponry.

Ireland is supportive of further measures being taken against Russia as part of a sixth EU sanctions package. The European Commission presented proposals for a sixth package of sanctions yesterday, aimed at depriving Russia and Belarus of the ability to pay for the continuation of the scale of this war. The package will include additional listings of individuals and entities, including senior military officers and other individuals deemed to have been involved in committing atrocities in Bucha and elsewhere, and in the siege of the city of Mariupol in particular.

The package also targets additional Russian and Belarusian banks, including Sberbank, which is Russia's largest bank. The three big Russian state-owned broadcasters will also be sanctioned. The package targets services, including accountancy, public relations, and consultancy services to Russian companies. A complete import ban on all Russian oil is also proposed, to be introduced in an orderly fashion so as to ensure that EU member states can secure alternative supplies. Crude oil will be phased out within six months, and refined products such as petrol and diesel by the end of the year. Ireland has frozen approximately €1.25 billion of Russian assets as of 29 April.

When I met the Ukrainian foreign minister in April, I reiterated that Ireland fully supports Ukraine's application for EU membership. Ireland, along with a group of EU member states, is working to provide political and practical assistance and support of Ukraine's European perspective. EU leaders have agreed to develop a Ukrainian solidarity trust fund, with a view to the reconstruction of a democratic Ukraine, once this Russian onslaught has been brought to an end.

We all hope that this dreadful period in Ukraine's history will soon pass. When it does, the world will remember the bravery displayed by the Ukrainian people in defending their families, their communities and their homeland. It will also be remembered by those who continue to work for democratic change within Ukraine.

Deputies will remember that last month, when we were addressed by President Zelenskyy in a joint sitting of the Houses, he thanked Ireland for its support and for its principled approach to this crisis. I can assure the House that Ireland will continue to use its voice internationally, to the greatest effect that we possibly can, in its principled support for Ukraine and continued focus, not only on supporting Ukraine in surviving this aggression, but also on trying to find a way to bring it to an end.

The focus of this debate, I know now, will be on the challenge we face here at home in accommodating the tens of thousands of Ukrainians who are displaced and driven from their homes for their own safety and the safety of their children. Some 85% of all of the Ukrainians who have come to Ireland are women and children. We have a moral obligation to ensure that Ireland plays its part in this war effort - because that is what it is - to offer generosity and openness, and practical solutions to the security and housing needs of those who chose to come here. We have made a very clear decision not to apply any quotas and not to require any visas to be filled out. Instead, anyone who chooses to come to Ireland to seek safety, security and stability during this war will be accommodated. This does put our systems under pressure, and it is important to acknowledge that. Trust me when I say that given the stories many of us heard from the Ukrainians who have come here, the challenges we face really do pale into insignificance compared to the stories that many of them will recount when they come here, and the trauma they are trying to recover from, in Irish homes and in the hotels, vacant properties and other accommodation facilities we are providing.

It is important to be honest about the extent of this challenge. Not all of the solutions will be perfect. We need to ensure that we are honest about that. When there are stresses on certain elements of the system, we need to be able to respond to it. I pay tribute to my colleague the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, who is sitting next to me here, for the work that he and his Department have done. They are, effectively, the lead Department in providing the accommodation and facilities. Many other Departments are supporting, but the Minister and his Department have done an extraordinary job, in the space of little more than two months, to accommodate more than 27,000 people, predominantly women and children. We will continue to do that and work in a whole-of-government manner, to make sure that the accommodation needs are provided as comprehensively as we possibly can. In years to come, when we look back on a dark period for Europe, which is what we are living through right now, I hope we will be to say that Ireland behaved in a way that was generous, outward looking, appropriate and in solidarity with a country and a people that are being torn apart.

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