Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The barbaric imperial war of conquest against Ukraine by Putin's Russia is a challenge to which the EU is responding. The Taoiseach has given us a comprehensive update on the recent meeting of the European Council on 30 and 31 May. The Taoiseach has also spoken to us about the meeting of the European Council in Brussels later this week. I believe, and we in the Labour Party believe, that we need to see more and stronger actions being taken against Russia by the EU at this point. It is clear that we must continue to work hard to achieve a stronger set of sanctions against Russia. We have seen quite a number of different sanction packages but these have clearly not been enough to see an end to this brutal war. We must see stronger support for Ukraine both politically and financially. I very much welcome the Taoiseach's comments that Ukraine is now on a firm path to EU membership and that Ireland is supporting that path.

We must also see stronger supports for those countries surrounding Ukraine, which are currently carrying the burden of the crisis caused by the Russian invasion, which is the crisis of refugees fleeing war and the brutality of the Russian invasion. We need to see more done at a political and diplomatic level. In this House and in protests outside the Russian Embassy I have consistently called for the expulsion of the Russian ambassador to Ireland. Let us see why we continue to have diplomatic relations with a country like Russia at all, a country that shows no remorse for its actions. It has engaged in a series of gruesome human rights abuses and a war of blatant territorial conquest.

There are many unanswered questions about the size of the Russian diplomatic presence here in Ireland and its real purpose. Last week, the Netherlands uncovered a Russian spy trying to infiltrate the International Criminal Court, which is rightly investigating war crimes in Ukraine by Russia. The undercover back story, which we have seen in the newspapers here, of the GRU agent known as Victor Ferreira, involved four years of undergraduate study at Trinity College Dublin. If Ireland is being used as a training ground for Russian GRU agents then we need fuller disclosure. We need to know more about what the Government here knows about Russian activities in Ireland.

We also need to see more action taken against Russian assets. Russian assets frozen in the International Financial Services Centre, IFSC, should be committed to rebuilding Ukraine after its wanton destruction by the Russian army. My colleague, Deputy Howlin, has brought forward legislation in this House, the Proceeds of Crime (Gross Human Rights Abuses) Bill 2020, or the Magnitsky Bill, which passed Second Stage last December and which today is on Committee Stage. This legislation would empower our Government to take stronger action against Russian oligarchs and against those Russians guilty of war crimes. Mr. Bill Browder, the inspiration for this legislation, asked this morning in the Irish media, where was the speed and urgency for the progress into law of the Magnitsky Bill. I urge the Minister to fast-track its passage into law. We, as members of the UN Security Council, should be showing leadership in the international community in ensuring that the assets of those responsible for this brutal war may be seized in any jurisdiction in which they are held, including in Ireland.

I very much welcome that the Government is supporting so strongly the candidate status for EU membership for Ukraine, but that will not be enough. We need to see stronger pledges of humanitarian and financial support for the people of Ukraine. I was glad to bring into this House members of the Ukrainian community in recent weeks, and in the past ten days to meet the Ukrainian ambassador to Ireland to hear directly from those most severely affected as to what is needed. Last week a survey of the Ukrainian community in Ireland was published as to the supports needed here around housing, childcare and after-school care. That is here in Ireland but we also need to see greater emphasis at EU level on the tariffs on Russian oil and gas to limit the financial benefit to Russia from rising prices of fuel internationally. I welcome what the EU has already done on Russian fossil fuels, but we also need to see stronger action taken and more urgently. This would also raise revenue for the EU to use in support of Ukraine.

Of course, we know that the Russian action in this brutal war has been a major factor in the rise in inflation rates. These are causing major stress, trauma and pain to households in Ireland and across the EU, as we see stark rises in the cost of living and stark rises in fuel prices and food prices. Again, we see Russia using and weaponising grain and food produced in Ukraine in an attempt to destabilise European countries and countries worldwide. We are all very conscious of the impact this is having particularly across the developing world.

What can we do? Since last November we have called on the Government to secure key derogations on VAT rules on heating to try to ameliorate the really terrible impact that rising fuel prices are having here in Ireland. We also need to see, and we need to ensure, that stronger action is taken at EU level to secure an embargo on Russian oil and gas. That is crucial in order to see an end to this brutal war.

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