Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge and thank Ambassador Gerasko and I welcome members of the Ukrainian community to the Gallery today. For three years we have seen horrors in continental Europe that we hoped we would never see again. In 1918, we hoped we would never see trench warfare again. In 1945, we hoped we would never see tanks roll across the sovereign borders of another European nation. We hoped that we would never see the ethnic cleansing happen again that we saw in the Balkans in the 1990s. Unfortunately, all three and more are happening in Ukraine after the brutal, illegal and unprovoked attack and invasion by Russia three years ago.

It was a black and white violation of the UN Charter and international law. As of 31 January, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that conflict-related violence had led to 12,605 civilian deaths and the injury of 29,178 civilians. The military death toll remains very high. The continued abuse of Ukrainian prisoners of war at the hands of the Russians, including torture and sexual violence, remains unabated. It is a humanitarian catastrophe caused and made by Russia.

When Russia made its illegal advances three years ago, it expected to roll over Ukraine in a matter of weeks. Instead, what it met was the indomitable spirit of the Ukrainian people. The Russians tried to lay waste to cities, targeted civilians, and destroyed infrastructure, in an attempt to try to break the will of the Ukrainian people. Even with the support of the US and other western powers, the odds were still stacked against Ukraine in the face of the Russian onslaught. However, Ukrainians have fought hard to defend their sovereign territory, although losing many men, women and children in doing so.

It is important in these times that are so fraught with uncertainty that we as a nation remember our values. Ireland is a militarily neutral country, but we are not nor never have been politically neutral in the face of illegal wars or war crimes - quite the opposite. Our position must always be informed by the principles that have driven our foreign policy since the foundation of the State. They are principles that we as a nation cherish deeply - support for international human rights and humanitarian law, just peace settlements and a rules-based international order.

The reality is that, due to the last three years, our principles will be tested in the years to come. The ground on which we now stand is shakier than it has ever been, and global alliances are not what they once were. The European Union can no longer trust the American Administration to be the friend and ally it has been since the Second World War. Ireland cannot accept a world order where the strong man pillages and plunders. Donald Trump and his cabal are acting in an utterly disgraceful manner. The direction of travel on the invasion of Ukraine seems clear: It seems Russia will be rewarded for its illegal war of aggression through keeping the lands it currently controls. Ukraine, perhaps in exchange for security guarantees - although that remains unclear, will have to sell its natural resources to the United States in a deal that seems more like war reparations than it does an economic trade agreement between peer nations. We can read between the lines on what we know about this deal. This is the United States pillaging and plundering Ukraine for its rare earth minerals and natural resources.

We even heard this morning that members of the Ukrainian Parliament do not know even the basic details of what deal is being proposed. This is an international heavyweight bullying smaller nations. There is no justice in that. It is Russia that should be forced to resource the rebuilding of Ukraine along, in the first instance, pre-2022 borders. It is the responsibility of the European Union to push back on any deal that cedes lands to the aggressor in this war. Let us make no mistake, Russian aggression will continue if it is allowed to continue to control any lands that it has illegally taken. If a peace settlement is foisted upon the Ukrainian people, Russia may stop for a few weeks or months, or even a couple of years, but it will not be deterred indefinitely. If we want a just peace - one that will endure, any settlement reached must be based on a sovereign Ukraine.

The coming weeks will be vital in determining the international landscape we will face in the years ahead. Ireland must be prepared to push back on global superpowers dividing up a sovereign European country. We have already seen how that story ends. These rapidly shifting tides must also act as a reminder for Europe that we must not let the might or financial resources of any country determine or shape our shared values.

To that end, it is clear Ireland must discover a new nimbleness in our own foreign policy and honestly reassess who our true allies are and who we can rely on. For many years we have punched above our weight diplomatically and we have been a voice for peace across the world. That must continue. We must redouble those efforts. We must also take the chance now to engage with European allies to forge stronger alliances with one another with an eye to further afield and strengthen alliances with other like-minded nations such as Canada. It will be through the strengthening of alliances that we can begin to separate ourselves from our reliance on an increasingly rogue United States, which has shown that, on any given day, it would leave us, as it could leave Ukraine, high and dry.

If, as it seems, the United States moves away from what has been a complex foreign policy - but one that has always at least claimed to be rooted in standing by its allies and promoting democracy - to a more transactional foreign policy in which it will deal with any nation on any issue to ruthlessly promote the Trump Administration's own vision of American interests, then we as an Irish nation must stand firm. We are firmly in a new age of international relations, a darker age. If the latest video from Donald Trump's own social media platform on Gaza is anything to go by, it is a grotesque, dystopian vision of an international order.

I welcome the news that Ireland will contribute more in financial aid to Ukraine. We must be more active in helping to find a peaceful settlement to this war that removes Russia from Ukrainian land. Importantly however, we must also be stronger and louder with our own values. We cannot allow ourselves to shirk our own responsibilities or values on the world stage. We must play a role in ensuring that we see a free and liberated Ukraine.

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