Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It should have been done during pre-legislative scrutiny. When we are giving guarantees to institutions in the event that the people of Ukraine and their institutions are unable to pay back the money, the very least we need is a risk assessment of that. That should be before us today.

As Deputy Naughten said, there is a possibility of using this type of mechanism for the greater good, in areas such as climate change and for Afghanistan, as I mentioned, and Palestine and what is happening there. A fund was never set up for Palestine. In fact, we allowed three of the ten organisations we fund to be prescribed as terrorist organisations by Israel. We give money to three organisations which, according to Israel, are terrorist organisations. A report by Amnesty International told us that the operation in Israel was an apartheid operation. We have done nothing about that.

The Minister of State can, therefore, see my cynicism as I stand here as an Independent Deputy. I see a narrative in which the language used draws on all the majestic power of the State. We are left to struggle with that and make sense of it. We are saying that it is good and we need to help these people but why are we not helping other people? Why are we going into a narrative in order to be one of the big boys in Europe? We are one of the tiniest countries in Europe. Our power does not lie in providing military aid or supporting the war. In fact, we are prevented from participating in wars by Article 28.3 of the Constitution.

This Bill will proceed to Committee Stage. I cannot support it as it stands. I will keep an open mind as it is teased out but at the moment, I have the most serious concerns about it. It is being done in our name and in a manner that makes people feel bad because we are not supporting the people of Ukraine. My heart and soul and everything else I have goes out to help the people of Ukraine but in context

Given what I have outlined as regards displaced people, I deplore the fact that we have created a two-tier system for refugees in Ireland. We treat one group from a particular country in one way, while we treat another group of asylum seekers in a completely different way. We have been keeping them in direct provision, which was supposed to be a temporary measure, for 23 years. Those are the reasons I have the most serious questions about this Bill.

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