Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Some of that commentary is incredible. It is an incredible overstatement. I did not discuss the training with President Zelenskyy because it is on a very minor scale compared to what every other member of the European Union is doing bar Ireland, Malta, and Austria. Get real here. We are not providing any military support in the form of hardware or weaponry to Ukraine, nor should we suggest we are. This is hyperbole beyond hyperbole. I have outlined what we have done so far, namely, de-mining and medical combat. That is all we have done; two or three programmes involving six personnel. That is all we have done and people are horrified and say this represents a flagrant breach of our military neutrality. Could we have some perspective? The big issue in Ukraine right now is an aerial bombardment that will freeze them to death over the next winter. That is the enormity of the issues they are facing.

Regarding the European Peace Facility, we are very clear that the funding from the EPF is for non-lethal assistance. I have to stress that. Nobody envisaged the brutal invasion by Russia of Ukraine.

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