Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)

For almost 1,400 days, Ukraine has been subjected to an armed aggression, the likes of which had not darkened our Continent in decades. The actions of the Russian Government in invading the territory of a sovereign, independent state are an affront to humanity, conducted with flagrant disregard for the UN Charter and for international law. In the course of its military aggression, Russia has killed thousands of Ukrainians, occupied parts of the country, devastated towns and cities, deported thousands of Ukrainian children, has forced over 14 million people from their homes and has deepened the scourge of global hunger.

Russia intentionally cripples Ukrainian infrastructure and tortures its servicemen. It has razed historic sites to the ground and, simply put, has sought to extinguish any Ukrainian future from this very earth. Russian drones and missiles target Ukrainian cities on a regular basis. Swarms of up to 800 drones per night terrorise the people of Kyiv and other cities. These are not the actions of a country interested in peace.

In the face of brutal adversity, Ukrainians continue to demonstrate outstanding courage, resolve and determination. Today, I would like to honour their heroic efforts to defend their country and their freedom. Given our own history, nobody from Ireland could not feel a strong resonance with a people trying to defend their country from an imperialist oppressor that claims a right to subdue its neighbouring people and destroy their identity.

Ukrainians have done nothing to bring down this war on their heads. They deserve the right we all claim to determine their own future, in peace and security. President Putin seeks to contort history such that an aggressor is somehow a victim, the imperialist is liberator and the oppressor is the oppressed.

We cannot accept this tearing of the fabric of the international order and this perverse inversion of reality. We must return to the facts. Russia’s full-scale invasion was an act of unprovoked and unjustified aggression by an expansionist power against its neighbour.

In 1945, the United Nations collectively agreed to say, "Never again" to the atrocities that follow from expansionist violence, yet now such atrocities have returned in Ukraine, Palestine, Sudan and in other conflicts. We cannot resign ourselves to inaction. We must not begin to normalise this inhumanity that the United Nations worked so hard to consign to history. We are seeing the rapid erosion of the fundamental basis for multilateralism with this conflict and with it threats to the integrity and credibility of the UN Charter itself. The example of a permanent member of the Security Council privileging imperial ambitions over global security threatens all of us and it threatens our collective future. It calls into question the capacity for the peaceful settlement of disputes and frays the common threads of our peaceful co-existence as member states of the United Nations. In this, the 80th year of the UN’s founding, Russian actions in Ukraine raise profound questions and challenges for the international community.

If Russia is allowed to prevail, seizing territory it has no legal right to and causing untold death and destruction with impunity, this will simply further embolden it and give a green light for others to attempt the same. What happens in Ukraine reverberates across the globe. Such unprecedented challenges to the international rules-based order have necessarily been met with an unprecedented response. Ireland has been at the forefront of these efforts. At the United Nations, Ireland along with our EU partners, has supported every General Assembly resolution in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including successful action to exclude Russia from the Human Rights Council.

During our term on the United Nations Security Council, Ireland delivered consistent, principled and powerful criticism of Russia’s war and defence of the UN Charter and the people of Ukraine. Ireland will continue to use our position and voice in the UN and in other international fora to support Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and the right to live in peace.

As Ukraine withstands Russian bombardment, it is our responsibility as a democracy to stand with them. In defending their nation, Ukrainians are also defending the universal principles that underpin our multilateral system: the rights of all people to live peacefully within their own borders and according to their own values and choices. This is why Ireland, together with the European Union and its member states, have mobilised unprecedented levels of support for Ukraine since the start of the Russian war of aggression. Since February 2022, the EU and its member states have provided almost €144 billion in support for Ukraine. This has been in the form of macro-financial assistance, budgetary support, emergency assistance, crisis response and humanitarian aid, as well as military assistance.

In February 2024, political agreement was reached on a €50 billion financial support package for Ukraine. The Ukraine facility will make available up to €50 billion in grants and loans until 2027 to cater for Ukraine's immediate needs, recovery and modernisation on its path towards the EU. Since February 2022, Ireland has committed over €380 million in political, humanitarian, economic and non-lethal military support to Ukraine.

In response to Russia’s illegal aggression, the European Union has adopted unprecedented sanctions. The EU first imposed Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia in 2014 in response to its illegal annexation of Crimea and its role in supporting separatists in Donbas. Since the full-scale invasion, the EU has adopted a total of 19 sanctions packages against Russia. We must continue to exert maximum pressure on Russia and limit its ability to wage its war of aggression against Ukraine. A broad range of sectoral sanctions have been put in place, including measures targeting Russia’s military, technology, transport and energy sectors. Ireland welcomed the adoption of the 19th package of sanctions against Russia in October and will continue to support the use of sanctions to pressure Russia. Together these measures are having an impact, making it harder for Russia to access battlefield goods and generate revenue to pay for its illegal war.

The decision by the European Council to open accession negotiations with Ukraine offers the prospect of a brighter future for the Ukrainian people. This year’s enlargement report confirmed that Ukraine has made significant progress on the path to membership in the European Union and reflects the results of systemic reforms implemented, despite all the challenges of the war. Ireland strongly supports Ukraine’s path towards EU membership. We will work to advance it under our Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2026.

Ireland is a militarily neutral country. However, as we have said many times, we are not politically or morally neutral in the face of violations of international law and war crimes; quite the opposite. Our position is informed by the principles that drive our foreign policy: support for international human rights law, for humanitarian law and for a rules-based international order, and the rights of all countries to choose their own path.

We are not neutral when Russia disregards all of these principles. We will continue to stand with Ukraine because Ukraine is fighting not only for its own survival, but in defence of European security and European values. Ireland recognises that its continued support for Ukraine is a necessity, not a choice. We are playing our part by providing non-lethal military support to Ukraine.

Through the Department of Defence, we continue to provide direct military support-in-kind. In June, five air defence radar systems and a fire tender were delivered to Ukraine.

A further donation of 34 vehicles, including ambulances, was delivered in two convoys in early September. Three Reacher bomb disposal robots were delivered to the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, UDCG, demining coalition in mid September. The Defence Forces will deliver a further training module of basic training to Ukrainian armed forces personnel via EUMAM Ukraine. This will take to 23 the total number of modules delivered by Irish personnel.

Through the framework of the European Defence Agency’s EU SatCom Market project, we provided support to Ukraine in respect to provision of satellite communications equipment at a value of €1.36 million. Ireland continues to contribute to the European Peace Facility, EPF, for non-lethal military support to Ukraine. At EU level, the release of the majority of remaining committed funding under the EPF is currently blocked. To date this year, we have committed €100 million in bilateral non-lethal military support to Ukraine. In July, €10 million each was provided to the UDCG coalitions on demining and IT support, led by Lithuania-Iceland and Estonia-Luxembourg, respectively. The remaining €80 million is being used primarily for the procurement of non-lethal elements of air defence in co-operation with EU member states with whom Ireland has agreed procurement partnerships for this purpose. The Government is firmly committed to continuing this strong support for Ukraine and expects to announce a further substantial package of non-lethal support shortly.

It is important to remember that while this war is being fought on Ukrainian territory, it is also a war on the Continent of Europe and against a country aspiring to join the European Union. It is perhaps easy to look eastward and believe the fires of war burning in Ukraine will never reach our shores and that distance is protection. Our commitment to a values-based foreign policy, multilateralism and a policy of military neutrality does not insulate us from the impacts of a rapidly changing and volatile international security environment that has become the new reality across Europe.

Russia’s increasingly provocative and reckless campaign of hybrid activity is raising concerns and tensions across Europe. Russia’s war of aggression must come to an end. We continue to call for a ceasefire to allow for meaningful negotiations to occur, negotiations that respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Regrettably, instead of agreeing to sit at the negotiating table, Russia chooses to escalate its attacks on Ukraine. I call on Russia to cease these brutal attacks. We will work alongside the US and European and other international partners in support of efforts for peace. This is not just critical for peace in Ukraine, but also for Ireland, for Europe and for the wider international community.

It is more important than ever that Ireland and our EU partners demonstrate our continuing solidarity to Ukraine in the face of Russia’s aggression. Russia’s aggression extends well beyond Ukraine. We have recently seen the airspace of our EU partners violated by drones and planes. The Government has strongly condemned these activities. Through its sustained pursuit of hybrid campaigns, Russia is a major threat to stability, democracy and social cohesion throughout Europe and beyond. These activities represent an attempt to divide member states, in particular in relation to support for Ukraine. Like other member states, Ireland is susceptible to these malicious acts, which include disruption to critical infrastructure, cyberattacks, spreading disinformation and attempts to interfere in electoral processes.

The Government takes the risks posed by these activities very seriously and we are responding. We are actively and constructively engaging in the development of EU policies aimed at combating hybrid threats, particularly Russia’s campaign of hybrid activity against the EU and its member states. We support the full use of all means available to prevent, deter and respond to Russia’s hybrid activities, including through sanctions. We will continue to work with our EU partners to strengthen our collective resilience. Domestically, the Government is implementing a range of relevant measures at national level to combat hybrid threats from state and non-state actors, including Russia, its proxies and aligned actors. This includes a substantial increase in investment in the National Cyber Security Centre, publication of a national counter-disinformation strategy, legislation enhancing election security through the Electoral Commission, the commencement of legislation on third country investment screening and control of exports.

The Department of Defence will publish Ireland’s first national maritime security strategy by the end of this year. We are also building up Ireland’s national capability to identify, mitigate and counter hybrid threats through our membership of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats in Helsinki.

Internal repression in Russia has increased even further since Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Putin’s regime systematically represses opposition politicians, civil society organisations, independent media and other critical voices with the use of repressive legislation and politically motivated prison sentences. That is why, when he observes the rigours of debate and forceful civic engagement in the EU and democracies around the world, he concludes that we are divided and democracy is weak. When he invaded Ukraine, he thought Europe and its transatlantic partners would abandon Ukraine. He miscalculated and he is seeing it backfire. The EU and our international partners are united in our resolve to end this war and the threat it poses to our collective security.

In September 2024, then Taoiseach, Deputy Simon Harris and President Zelenskyy signed a comprehensive bilateral agreement on support and co-operation between Ireland and Ukraine. This agreement sends a clear signal to Russia that we will not waver in the face of the ongoing brutal aggression in Ukraine and signifies Ireland’s determination to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. The Government’s focus remains on achieving a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, a peace that respects Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the principles of the UN Charter and international law.

Russia's war of aggression must come to an end. We continue to call for a ceasefire to allow meaningful negotiations to occur, negotiations that respect Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity. Regrettably, instead of agreeing to sit at the negotiating table, Russia chooses to escalate its attacks on Ukraine. I call on Russia to cease these brutal attacks. We will work alongside the US and European and other international partners in support of efforts for peace. This is not just critical for peace in Ukraine but also for Ireland, Europe and the wider international community. It is more important than ever that Ireland and our EU partners demonstrate our continuing solidarity with Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.

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