Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will not respond to the last point. Warships visiting ports is not a matter for the European Council, so I have no information on that. I suggest that the Deputy ask a parliamentary question of the relevant Department or inquiries could be made to the Port of Cork or Cork City Council. I suppose they would have the answer. I do not have the answer, as I am here to discuss the European Council, and it was not raised at the European Council.

Regarding neutrality, the Taoiseach has made it very clear our neutrality is characterised by non-membership of military alliances. He has also said there are no plans to join any military alliance. When one country gets effectively beaten up, with many of its citizens killed by another country, there are very basic principles of international law that have been broken. Those basic principles come from the United Nations system, an international system, which the Deputy knows a previous Minister for Foreign Affairs and member of Fianna Fáil, Frank Aiken, played a massive role in putting together over many years. That is the system we uphold, one we must uphold if we want to be a democratic state bound by the rule of law and if we want to insist that others maintain those principles. My party - Deputy Mattie McGrath's former party - has a very proud tradition in the United Nations system. The UN General Assembly, on many occasions, has condemned Russia's actions because they breach the basic principles of the United Nations to which we have all signed up. It is a very simple proposition for us on this side of the House. There is no issue with it whatsoever. There is no suggestion we are joining NATO, that we are taking part in any common defence, or that we are providing weapons to Ukraine. What we have done in the temporary protection directive is contribute to non-lethal military equipment. Austria, which is also a neutral country, has done the same. We have been proud to do that. The equipment is very important and has been very gratefully received by the Ukrainians.

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