Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Let us be very clear in response to the question Senator Craughwell has raised. This country has not chosen the side of Russia but is very much on the side of the Ukrainian people. We stand in solidarity with them. We also stand in solidarity, as the Minister of State said, with the ordinary people of Russia and Belarus. This is not their fight. In calling out Russia, we also need to call out the tyrant Lukashenko, whose regime has lasted for far too long. The Minister was correct in his remarks.

The people we need to think about more than anybody else are ordinary Ukrainians. People are dying again tonight as a result of war crimes being perpetrated by a thug, Vladimir Putin. The question is: how can we help? I am very proud of the Government's approach in many ways. We immediately lifted the visa requirements to allow for families to be reunited. We have to send out a message, as Senator Joe O'Reilly said, to our Ukrainian brothers and sisters, our fellow Europeans, that they are more than welcome to come to Ireland. We also need to consider what other supports apart from immediate humanitarian support will be needed when the Ukrainians come here, such as translation services and helping people to get to work because many people will want to work and contribute to the country. We need to start to plan for how we can do that. Then hopefully when Ukraine does defeat the Russian aggressor, we will be able to support those Ukrainians who wish to return to their homeland. I am proud of the stance the Taoiseach, Government and Minister for Foreign Affairs have taken at European level. This is the EU acting at its best. At a moment of crisis, it has responded. Two weeks ago, I do not think anybody would have expected the strength of the stance that was taken. Indeed, we need to go further.

There are other questions we need to address. We can be certain that we are going to experience far more cyberattacks. If not state-sponsored, they will certainly be state-condoned. That means we need a debate in this country on cybersecurity. We have to remember that the largest ever attack on a health service anywhere in the world last year came from Russia. I am not saying that it was sponsored but this kind of activity was condoned. A small number of cyberattacks are being perpetuated around the world and they tend to be from a small number of states. We need to take action at global and European levels. That requires us to co-operate through the PESCO arrangements on cybersecurity.

We will need to address food and energy security. A quarter of the world's grain comes from Russia and Ukraine and this will have implications. We do not import a lot from that region but there will be global implications. Much of the grain, barley and corn from that region goes to the Middle East, Lebanon, Yemen, Egypt. People will be aware that problems around food security can further destabilise regions. We have to be willing to take part in that discussion. We are not a neutral country; we are a non-aligned country. We have always had a very proud independent foreign policy. We should look at co-operating with our fellow non-aligned members of the EU, that is, Finland, Sweden and Austria.We should look at their approach on a number of issues including through PESCO and in other areas relating to global security issues.

This is a real test of Ireland's and the European Union's foreign policy. So far, we have adopted the correct approach but at a global level we are now seeing a battle between democracy and autocracy. We need to make the choice on which side we stand. Overwhelmingly the view of the Irish people and in these Houses is on the side of democracy. Unfortunately, as we saw in the European Parliament again this evening, we have a small minority of politicians in this country who are nothing more than soft puppets for the Putin regime. They have supported and echoed the speaking notes of every authoritarian regime. They are anti-European Union and anti-United States. While that is fine and it is their prerogative, to continue to support dictators such as Vladimir Putin, Alexander Lukashenko and Maduro in Venezuela is not acceptable.