Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank him for the confirmation. I do not mean to be smart-alecky but there is increasingly a bit of a disconnect. The Taoiseach is making statements that are very much in tune with what Dr. Ursula von der Leyen is saying but I wonder how in tune she is with the masses of Europe. She comes from a particular background, as we all do, but the old aristocratic elite of Europe is reasserting itself. We see the expansionist tendencies of that aristocratic elite also reasserting themselves.

I will preface my comments by saying, because otherwise they will be intentionally or otherwise misinterpreted, I have the utmost sympathy for Ukraine as a state and the Ukrainian people. I have nothing but condemnation for the Russian aggression that is taking place. Nevertheless, it is taking place in response to a fear of EU and western expansionism and, in particular, a fear of western military expansionism around NATO. Although the Taoiseach has stopped short of making pronouncements on that, he has called for the EU to agree to Ukraine becoming an accession country as quickly as possible. Again, that plays to a particular elite in Europe and its expansionist ambitions, which have some part to play in the cause of this war. That is no different than Russia's expansionist ambitions but at least it is not pretending. It states it is not ashamed of what it has done. Russia may have much to be ashamed about, but it says it is not. At least, the fact it says it is not ashamed means there has been some minor degree of critical analysis on its part. I do not see any critical analysis from the European elite as it continues to advocate for EU expansion.

If we look at reports regarding countries that have not acceded to the EU, there are countries that have been accession countries for a long time, for example, Turkey. There is not a whole lot of movement on that. Serbia has accession status, as do Macedonia and Albania, but Bosnia and Herzegovina was refused that status a couple of years ago. I had a very quick look at the reasons before coming to the Chamber. One of them is the fight against corruption and organised crime in that country is hampered by a lack of harmonisation of legislation across the country. That is a key concern for the European Union. We should compare that to its treatment of Ukraine.

According to Transparency International's 2021 corruption perceptions index, which is a scale of the least to most corrupt nations, Ukraine ranked 122nd out of 180, making it the second most corrupt country in Europe, with Russia being the most corrupt. Moldova, which has something in common with Ukraine in the form of the threat on its eastern border around the Transnistria area, was ranked 105th, making it one of the most corrupt countries on the face of the planet. Yet we want them to be made accession countries as fast as possible. It is as if we learned no lessons from the difficulties with the accession of Romania and Bulgaria in particular, where combating corruption and organised crime became more difficult after their accession. Once they were granted accession status with Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and so on, the political impetus became unstoppable. Nothing was done to counter the corruption beforehand and it became very difficult to counter afterwards, yet we have not learned from that because we want to serve the expansionist ambition of a European elite. Our Taoiseach is very much on that elite's coat-tails. Sometimes, I listen to the man and wonder whether he has been promised a job. What is the story? He is saying everything and anything that comes from the technocratic and aristocratic elite in Brussels without any regard for its impact on his own State.

Like Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, I have no problem with the fact that Ukrainian children are getting services in Ireland quickly. However, I have a problem with the differentiation between peoples. We need to learn. We have a problem with the oligarchs in Russia, and rightly so, but what about the oligarchs in Ukraine? According to TheWashington Post, which is a fairly reputable newspaper, "Ukraine's oligarchs are united against Russia". It then explains why: "Ukrainian oligarchs engage in politics with one primary goal: defending their wealth and property." Are we going to bring them into the EU? Our Taoiseach wants us to. I do not.

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