Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The Social Democrats will support this motion. On Monday, we saw Russian forces launching a missile strike on a crowded shopping centre. It was an horrific and a blatant attack on innocent civilians. Nineteen people were confirmed killed and many more were injured or unaccounted for. It is important for us to reiterate that Ireland and the European Union stand united with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people against this callous barbarism and depravity. Putin, his regime, and his cronies who profit from all of this must be held accountable. We cannot say that often enough.

Ireland is a neutral country but, as we have said before, we are not neutral on the invasion nor does it mean we cannot act. We have seen an unprecedented array of co-ordinated international sanctions unleashed to combat Putin’s regime and destroy his ability to fund his murderous war. However, it is clear we must go further. All of us in the European Union must ensure that if we impose sanctions, they have to be absolutely copper-fastened. We do not want to look back in retrospect and see there were loopholes and ways around these sanctions.

At present the rules on evading sanctions differ greatly across the EU.

It is a criminal offence in 12 countries, either an administrative or criminal offence in 13 countries and an administrative offence only in Slovakia and Estonia. Many EU countries lack sufficiently robust legal frameworks to seize criminal assets, making it easier for criminals to hide their resources and benefit from illegal actions. We must work cohesively across the EU on those sanctions or else those efficacy will be undermined. The proposal will go a long way to ensuring a consistency of approach in the EU. Those on the sanctions list are incredibly well resourced and if there is a weakness in the EU's application of sanctions, it will be found. These people have money and power in the form of lawyers, and they will make every effort to wriggle their way out of the consequences of sanctions.

Violations of sanctions have a cross-border nature, which makes a strong argument for a common EU approach. When considering companies and individuals with extreme wealth, it is unlikely all their financial dealings will occur in a single state. Differences in approach between member states make prosecution of cross-border crimes very difficult. A 2021 European network report found that in practice very few individuals responsible for the violation of sanctions are held responsible. Often when the EU implements sanctions, it gives effect to United Nations sanctions because all EU member states are also members of the UN. The combination of the UN, EU and US sanctions are synchronised to maximise the impact on the target country or individual.

With the invasion of Ukraine, the EU and UN have differing objectives. It makes a mockery of the UN Security Council when a small number of countries, including Russia, can hold a veto. Essentially, Russia has not been challenged over that veto and it amounts to significant undermining of the United Nations.

I will also speak to the kind of legislation we can enact. I spent a year trying to put together a Magnitsky Bill, going back and forth with the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers and Mr. Bill Browder. It was very obvious that a money message was required, and Deputy Howlin has run into the same difficulties. I have sent my file to the Department in trying to be helpful and I do not see why we cannot collectively work on something that does not have to be polarising. We could all work on something that can produce the desired result to affect a very small number of individuals, with proper safeguards applied. We require the Government to accept that a money message is required because it prevents us from working on this in the Opposition. That is despite the cross-party support for doing something significant in this way. I appeal to the Government to facilitate that work.

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