Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine three years ago was a terrible attack on a sovereign nation, escalating into a conflict that has killed more than 1 million people, created 7 million refugees, displaced 3.7 million people internally and put almost 13 million people, including more than two million children, in dire need of humanitarian aid. Tens of thousands of children were also abducted by Russia and forcefully taken away from their families. Despite its vicious, indiscriminate military assaults and many war crimes committed, thanks to the bravery and steadfastness of Ukraine, very little has changed on the ground compared to what was already in situ following the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the subsequent war in Donbas.

The adoption of the ineffective Minsk agreements and the pathetically weak response of major European nations, particularly to the Donbas war, emboldened Putin to invade Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Europe belatedly responded with military and civil aid, as did the US. Ireland also played its part in providing support in line with our policy of military neutrality. In the initial stages of the invasion, the international community, led by the then normal United States Administration and European allies, rallied to support Ukraine. The US Congress appropriated nearly €174 billion from fiscal years 2022 to 2024, and supplemented appropriations to aid Ukraine. This assistance was instrumental in bolstering Ukraine's defence and providing humanitarian relief. However, recent shifts in US policy have thrown this into disarray.

President John F. Kennedy and President Zelenskyy have both addressed the Dáil. We respected both their contributions, but we had a particular cousinly relation with JFK when he came to Ireland. He was seen as one of our own, coming back to the old sod - a Catholic coming back from America made good. Our relationship with America goes back generations. Some 40 million diaspora claim to have some form of Irish heritage on this island. The Americans are our cousins, our friends and our relatives. The Americans are a great people and we have always believed in American exceptionalism. We have followed European policy socially, but always admired the American dream from afar. We cannot lecture our friends and cousins in America about the democratic choices they made. I know, however, from speaking to some of them, that many of them regret their decisions. They may have voted Republican because they felt the Democrats were not actually addressing some of their bread-and-butter needs, but what is happening now is nothing more than the systemic attempt to dismantle democracy in the US. There is no point in an Opposition Deputy being a nice person and trying to placate the US Administration. I want to put on the record for 40 years' time that we have a narcissist in office in the United States. He is someone who puts transactions above what is morally right; someone who abuses and mistreats women; and someone who has an unstable tech head in his administration trying to disassemble the working people of America. It is not my place to comment on America's democratic right to elect people like this, but I want to put it on the record that they still have a chance in the congressional elections in two years' time to have some sort of a positive impact for their people. I am saying that in the same way as Elon Musk tried to interfere in the German elections and talk about the AfD. We will leave it up to the people to decide, but to our friends and cousins in America, please speak out against the transactional abuses that your President is committing regarding Ukraine and Palestine. Glory to Ukraine and I thank our guests today.

See this speech in context