Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

I am very grateful for the opportunity to speak about the very worrying spectre and instance of there being war in Europe for the first time in decades. It is important to take a moment to check and remind ourselves of the sheer significance and impact of that statement, that there is war on the Continent of Europe, a plane flight away from where we are at the moment. It becomes very real when you go to Brussels or speak to colleagues from countries that are in the eastern part of the European Union or border Russia and have in their lines of sight drones being flown into their airspace. There is a very real sense among our friends and partners in the European Union that there is a very live threat on the Continent of Europe. In Ireland, we cannot afford to put our heads in the sand and ignore the fact that threat exists.

We have to be careful that we create a space to discuss the existence of this threat and that we do not instantly march or rush towards the fact that this is increasing militarisation or is instantly a threat to our neutrality. It is a recognition of the same threats and fears the people in Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania feel about the potential aggression of the Russian Federation, in the same way we spoke to our European partners about standing in solidarity with us during the Brexit negotiations or the economic crisis. It is not unreasonable or ungenerous of them to request of us in this country or of our Government to stand in solidarity and listen to the fears of our partners about the threat they very much feel on their borders.

While the war in Ukraine and the aggression by Russia are entirely illegal and undermine international law, in many ways they show that we need to stand for the sovereignty of the nation state, and not only for the sovereignty of the nation state but for the integrity of its borders and territory as well. If we fail to do that, then we very much fail to uphold the principle underpinning the European Union and the modern concept of the nation state, namely, that it has inviolable borders and that that is a principle worth recognition and acknowledgement in and of itself.

That is why is it important, not only in recognising the immediate threat Russia poses to countries in the Baltics, for example, or in Scandinavia, that the European Union is also seen to take a stand on the need for the championing of democracy, the need for the integrity of borders, the need for the integrity of the nation state and ultimately, the respect of self-determination for people in respect of where they want to go and how they want to govern themselves, which has been violated by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

We have led a very humanitarian response in this country. Over 100,000 people have come to our country seeking temporary protection as a result of the war. That is something I have seen in my own constituency. I pay tribute to all communities and households who have welcomed Ukrainian people into their families, communities and schools. Fundamentally, our schools very quickly pivoted, reacted and embraced the Ukrainian children who came into their schools and made them part of our society and community and integrated them fully. Great credit is due to all of the schools around the country that undertook this act. I give particular credit to the teachers and parents involved in each instance.

It does now force us in Ireland to hold a mirror to ourselves in terms of how we would respond to any form of aggression that might be part of this. This is not just in terms of conventional military warfare. We saw the devastating impact of the cyberattack on the HSE a number of months ago and how that crippled its IT system. It is important that we recognise the very real threats that exist in regard to cyber warfare and the incursion of drones into our airspace. I am very proud that Baldonnel aerodrome is in my constituency and I encourage the new Minister for Defence to continue the rapid programme of investment in giving us radar capability to understand what is in our skies and to be able to respond accordingly. Again, that is not increasing militarisation; it is prudent safeguarding of the security of the country. It is important that we create a discussion where we look at other neutral countries that are not members of military alliances and the investment they make in their defence forces to ensure they can secure their neutrality and protect their borders in a balanced and reasonable way.

To go back to my fundamental point, we cannot ignore the fact the war on European soil has brought into focus the very real threat that countries that are our European partners feel around the possibility of Russian aggression. We need to create a responsible space in this country to discuss this. It is a grey area and anyone on any side of this debate needs to accept there will be ambiguity in some of the terminology and some of the definitions we use. However, we need to open the conversation about how we safeguard our neutrality, how we stand in solidarity with our European allies and how we make sure our Defence Forces, of which we are all very proud and which have a proud legacy of peacekeeping, are equipped properly and that we have the equipment to keep Ireland safe, be it on land, air, sea or from cyber attacks. We must recognise that Ireland now is a very strategic economic, communications and digital location for not only companies but also our Government and our European partners. We must show that we are able to protect what we have, what we hold dear, and the European Union must show that it stands in solidarity with those countries that do feel that fear.

That, ultimately, is a success of the European Union project. It shows the ability of smaller member states to be protected by others but also to allow them to punch above their weight in their influence in global affairs. It is important that we acknowledge this.

Finally, I want to talk about peace in Ukraine. All of us across the European Union and across the world want peace in Ukraine, but we want a just peace. We do not want a peace that is forced by the might of larger countries because they have demonstrated military aggression. There is a role for the EU in safeguarding that peace and honouring that peace. It needs to be a fair peace, it needs a balanced approach to that peace and it needs to respect the fundamental principles at the heart of European liberal democracies, which are the integrity of the nation state, the ability of a state to protect its borders and, fundamentally, the right to self-determination for a country.

If I have any last call to action it is: that we create a space in this country where we can have the discussion about security and defence policy without instantly running to the ramparts and saying, "Neutrality is under threat"; that we actually take account of the fact that the same people stood by us when we asked them for help 20 or 30 years ago or even ten years ago and that we show that same level of solidarity and we do not dismiss their concerns; that we make sure that the public debate in this country reflects the very real fear that is being felt in countries around the world; that we act as a Government and as a Dáil to ensure that our Defence Forces are well equipped to protect our country; and, ultimately, that we are seen as European partners who stand in solidarity, whatever form that may be, while also respecting our traditional military neutrality in this country.

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