Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

One year ago, Vladimir Putin's Russia launched a brutal and criminal war on its peaceful neighbour, Ukraine. In doing so, he unleashed the largest land conflict and the greatest displacement of people in Europe for nearly 80 years. Russia's attack on and bombardment of the Ukrainian people is an attack on sovereignty, on peace and on the right of a nation to be free. It is a vicious and violent expression of the dead-end belief that might is right and that military power can dominate humanity.

For 12 long and painful months, the courageous people of Ukraine have stood against this onslaught. While we stand by them as an Ireland and Europe united, we can never fully grasp the depths of the horror faced by men, women and children since 24 February 2022. Russia's invasion is a rampant breach of international law, a full-scale aggression which has been defined by vicious war crimes committed by the Russian military against innocent people. It is defined by horrific acts of murder, rape and torture. Reports of genocide have condemned the Russian military in the eyes of all who stand for justice, freedom and human rights. What we see is the brutalisation by the powerful of vulnerable citizens who have seen their homeland and their towns and cities decimated by one of the most colossal military forces on earth. This war and this brutalisation are crimes against the Ukrainian people. It is a crime against their humanity. No amount of propaganda from Moscow or speeches riven with delusion from Putin will ever disguise what Russia has done in Ukraine. It has been exposed to the world and the world stands aghast. Putin and his regime must know they will be held accountable for these barbaric actions. These human rights violations and grave breaches of the Geneva Convention demand investigation by the International Criminal Court and the prosecutions that must follow.

Our unified message to Vladimir Putin is clear. He must immediately withdraw his military from Ukraine. He must end his war and end the bloodshed. He must understand that the international community will stand resolute for as long as it takes to face down his attack on peace, sovereignty, stability and human rights. We are undeterred. Threats of escalation and vows to intensify the onslaught will not work. Ireland stands with Ukraine and through all the horror, the people of Ukraine are winning out. They are holding their country against enormous odds, because they are not fighting for power or domination: they are fighting for their children, their families, their communities and their country. They are fighting for the very survival of their beautiful nation, which I hope we will welcome as a member of the EU in the near future.

The warmongers and the hawks who preach the might of militarism lead us nowhere. Ireland understands the damaging and divisive legacy wrought by colonisation, occupation and the denial of self-determination. We know that imperialist ventures and colonial aggression have no place in a peaceful world, a world of rights, justice and equality. Ireland, Europe and the global community have rightly stood against Russia's criminal invasion and we will stand against military aggression everywhere it is to be found because this is not a time for double standards or hypocrisy.

We must stand together too against Israel's war on the Palestinian people, its apartheid regime and its occupation of Palestinian lands. The Israelis too brazenly breach international law in another brutal expression of the destruction and division that the "might is right" principle has wrought upon humanity. This is a principle that Ireland will never, ever accept.

The responsibility for ending the war in Ukraine lives squarely with Vladimir Putin. A withdrawal of the Russian military must happen and we must all come together to build a pathway and a plan for peace. Standing resolutely against the Putin invasion, the international community and international diplomacy must use all its muscle to find a way to bring an end to war and the beginnings of peace. Though this is a time of darkness, I believe Ukraine will prevail and endure. When the Russian army is gone, the Ukrainian people will rise from the ashes and begin again. I look forward to that day, but until it dawns, Ireland will continue to stand with Ukraine in the spirit of freedom, peace and hope for a better future.

See this speech in context