Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

In a fairly terrifying development, yesterday the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which was instigated by Albert Einstein and other atomic scientists in 1945, moved the doomsday clock to 90 seconds to midnight from previously being 100 seconds to midnight.

The atomic scientists describe this as a metaphor for how close humanity is to self-annihilation. Previously, the nearest the clock had been to midnight was 17 minutes, which was at the end of the Cold War. It is now at 90 seconds. That organisation cites specifically the threat of nuclear war as a result of the escalation of the war in Ukraine.

We all know that Putin instigated that war and is the culprit of an unjustified and brutal invasion,but there is no sign whatsoever from the EU or from President von der Leyen - quite the opposite - of an attempt to de-escalate this terrifying situation. That is not in any way to mitigate Putin’s crimes but escalating this war to the possibility of a nuclear conflict is too scary to even think about. That is what the atomic scientists believe. When the Taoiseach looks at tanks and the escalation of this, is he not scared? Does he not think that a neutral country such as Ireland should be calling for the de-escalation of this terrifying conflict?

See this speech in context