Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

As we speak, representatives of two big imperialist powers are sitting down in Saudi Arabia to decide the future of Ukraine - to carve it up without any Ukrainian representatives even being present. It is illustrative of the fact that the world we live in is increasingly divided between these big imperialist powers and their rivalries and it underlines the need for Ireland to be a consistent voice against imperialism and oppression and for peace. The Ukrainian people have suffered throughout all of this. They have suffered throughout the horrendous invasion by Russia and now the US is willing to use them, willing to see Ukrainian people suffer in order to attempt to weaken Russia and then for it to walk away when the US, under Trump, decides to pivot to Asia. Their interests have always been at the last of this.

What is ironic is that the invasion of Ukraine was used in this country to drive an agenda of militarisation, with people saying we needed to align with the US and align with NATO. The coming to an end of this war will now be used to say we need to align and be part of some sort of European process of militarisation. I have a concrete question. Starmer has said he is willing to send British troops on the ground to Ukraine. Simon Harris has not ruled out Irish troops being sent. Will the Taoiseach rule out sending troops abroad? Will he say we will not be sending military aid, whether it is lethal or so-called "non-lethal", for an armed conflict?

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