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

I wish we could use our voice to bring about a ceasefire and peace. However, anybody who looks at Russia's actions will see it has sent a signal to western leaders meeting this week by way of the brutality of what it did yesterday. This is not a country that is seeking peace. It is a country that is seeking to dominate its neighbour and bring Ukraine back into the Russian sphere of influence. That is what is happening. I wish it were not but Russia is deliberately undermining the very infrastructure of peace and stability on our Continent right now.

I assure the Deputy that Ireland will be the first in line in the context of trying to find diplomatic solutions that can bring about a ceasefire. We will also, however, be conscious of what Ukraine wants and is asking for. It knows Russia better than anybody. If the Deputy were to travel, as I have done, to the Baltic states and speak to those in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, and they understand Russia only too well in respect of the Russian mindset, he would get his answer. Compromise is seen as weakness. That is what they would say. Therefore, we need to support Ukraine to try to protect itself while we try to find a way to talk some sense into the leadership in Moscow. I do not believe that anybody in the West or in NATO wants this war to continue. I do not believe that Ukraine wants it to either, but I do not think that country has a choice in the context of the aggression demonstrated by Russia.

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