Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Putin's bombing of Ukraine is despicable. A little desperation is beginning to creep in. As we know, Putin is on the defensive against Ukrainian advances, in addition to the home front, which is an issue that is underreported. In recent weeks, many ordinary Russians have defied conscription, relatives of conscripts have held protests in at least six cities, some troops have refused to leave barracks and some soldiers have fragged, or killed, their officers. In these circumstances, the role of NATO is counterproductive. The larger the NATO shadow looms, the more Putin can point to foreign threat in an attempt to rally the population and cut across the anti-war revolt. Will the Taoiseach agree that this State needs to keep real distance from NATO and that this State has made a mistake under his leadership in being represented at NATO's Ukraine defence contact group over these last six months?

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