Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach for welcoming the representatives of the Uyghur World Congress and colleagues who attended the meeting to hear about the ongoing abuse of human rights in China. Since we last met and with the storms, we in Wexford lost a very valued employee of Wexford County Council, Mr. Billy Kinsella, who sadly died while out serving his community. He was working hard on behalf of the people his community. I hope Members would join with me in extending sympathy to his wife Rita, their son Conor and, indeed, his family, friends and Wexford County Council, generally, on that loss.

I, too, want to raise the question of what is happening in Ukraine. We have previously talked in this House about an increasingly authoritarian Russia and the approach that it has taken. Russia has now violated the sovereignty of an independent state. This is a defining moment now for Europe. Colleagues have spoken as well about how the sanctions we need to see at European level need to be strong. I believe that every Russian oligarch and their family should be stripped of any EU visa in order to send the message very clearly home to Vladimir Putin. Certainly, there have been calls that UEFA should withdraw the Champions League final from St. Petersburg. We should in no way allow the Russians to host such an event.

A message needs to go out very strongly from these Houses, that we stand very much in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. Also, I believe that there are a number of political parties and representatives from this island who have been ambivalent in their attitudes towards Russian aggression and we need to call those out. It has to be very clear that we will no longer tolerate this. We have seen two of our MEPs, Mick Wallace, MEP, and Clare Daly, MEP, who, quite frankly, are nothing more than Putin’s sock puppets parroting the line of the Kremlin. Those political representatives who have supported Russia over this time need to be called out. I would hope that our Government would continue to do so.