Vincent P Martin (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

There are two issues I wish to bring to the attention of the House this morning that have potentially serious implications for world peace and stability. First, the recent decision by the UK Government in respect of its announcement concerning its integrated review of security, defence, development and foreign policy, of its nuclear weapons and the nuclear warhead cap. It is most worrying, as the British are lifting the cap on the number of warheads it can stockpile, having previously committed to reducing its stock. The new UK position runs contrary to disarmament commitments and risks contributing to a dangerous arms race. The UK's review also confirmed it will no longer be providing public figures on the UK's operational stockpile of its deployed warheads and deployed missile numbers. The UK's new position also sends a very dangerous message at this crucial time in global non-proliferation methods and efforts. Ireland has a proud history of supporting the advancement of multilateral nuclear disarmament through active participation in the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Our efforts are driven by a firm belief that nuclear disarmament is an enabler of security and that the only guarantee of safety is to complete elimination of nuclear weapons. The British Government's decision is most worrying and it has largely gone under the radar.

The second matter I wish to bring to the attention of the House and the Deputy Leader is a much better or prominently documented matter, namely, the recent hijacking of the civilian airline. This House and every democracy should put this on the agenda indefinitely because there is a real danger with the passage of time that the dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, will get away with this.The President of Belarus has taken the law into his own hands. His action is a strike on all of our freedoms and a flagrant breach of international law. For an extradition from an organised democracy like Ireland there is an amount of forensic detail and the process is fair, yet a dictator has organised successfully and arranged the hijacking of an Irish-owned, Polish registered civilian aircraft as it flew between two EU members states with up to 12 member states' citizenry onboard. Over a week has gone by and I again call for the release of Roman Protasevich and his partner, Sofia Sapega. We should call for their release on a regular basis. The world has spoken, by and large, but it has had no effect to date on the welfare, safety and liberty of these two people. Roman Protasevich is a blogger and young journalist whom a dictator felt he could not cope with. This is an attack on the freedom of the press and freedom of expression. I am really concerned about the safety of Roman Protasevich, as is any democrat in the free world. We should continue to mention and highlight the case on a regular basis until we get a result. We must ratchet up the sanctions, and not just EU sanctions. We must use the EU appeal throughout the world and the US to do more and more, and not let this case fade into the past. As time fades people forget, which is what is happening so we must continue to highlight this case.