Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, and the Taoiseach are behaving treacherously in respect of Irish neutrality. They should be ashamed of themselves.

I listened to Deputy Cahill, my colleague from Tipperary, and Deputy Flaherty and their lovely grand talk. I do not want it to be raining down on top of them but what is going on is scandalous. The Government has abandoned the people in this globalism and dragging us into a crowd we should not be in. Does it have any idea of the impacts of this quarrel? I spoke to the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, previously about the import of grain. He said there were no restrictions on grain coming into Ireland.

I have before me a letter here from Paul and his partner Caroline, a wonderful couple from Cahir who adopted their son in Russia in 2014. They brought him home to Ireland after a long and arduous campaign. Their late grandad, John, who I knew well, set up a credit union account for him, as grandparents do. In 2017, after John passed away, they transferred that few bob into the AIB branch in Cahir. AIB has now sent a letter saying that he is one of the people affected due to the restrictions. It has not been easy for the parents of children adopted from Russia. Can the Minister of State imagine their angst and anxiety on the evening they saw on television the outbreak of hostilities? I praise Coláiste Dún Iascaigh, the school Kian is attending. According to Paul, the school is incredible in how it offers supports for children in Cahir. The town has one of the biggest populations of people from eastern Europe in Ireland per head of population. Nationality does not matter in Cahir. Now, however, courtesy of AIB, this boy's life has been devastated. AIB has sent a letter to a búchaill óg of 17 to say that his account has to be monitored as a result of the restrictions.

What is the Government doing to people? It has got so involved in this war in Ukraine that it is not funny. People are aghast. Ships coming into Cork Harbour will not answer questions about whatever it is they are doing. The Government has really lost the run of itself. The Taoiseach certainly has lost the run of himself, while the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, and all the other junior Ministers and backbenchers support him and listen to the devastation of the agriculture industry and all the other industries.

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