Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I commend my Fine Gael colleagues for a well-considered motion. As it was being proposed by Senator Seery Kearney, I agree with her words. It is a comprehensive motion and reflects in many ways the concerns of the Irish people and our desire as a nation as to how the world should function. I am happy that President Zelenskiy has received and accepted an invitation to address the joint Houses. I made the suggestion a number of weeks ago. I thank the Clerk, Martin Groves, for his assistance and work in that regard.

It is important that the House puts on record our thanks to ambassador Larysa Gerasko and her team at the Ukrainian Embassy for her courage and her engagement with Members of the Oireachtas and communities around the country. While she and her team perform their diplomatic duties, they have family in Ukraine. For them, it is personal as well as diplomatic. I know how difficult it is and want her and her team to understand that we know and our solidarity is with them.

We have seen extraordinary generosity on the part of the Irish people in recent weeks. I agree with Senator Cummins and others that we must ensure that continues and that, as a State, we are doing the right thing. We need to set out clearly that we support Ukraine's passage to EU membership. In our fight for independence, it was our right as an independent, sovereign, democratic State to determine which international organisations we chose to join. It is similarly right for Ukraine and other countries in central and eastern Europe as independent sovereign states to determine which international organisations they wish to join. They cannot be bullied by a bigger neighbour. We know that from our history. It is one of the many reasons we need to show solidarity with our Ukrainian brothers and sisters.

This is Europe's 9/11 moment and will change the face of Europe, our relationship with Russia and how the European Union responds. I believe we should remain as a non-aligned country in military terms but we need to co-operate more closely with other non-aligned EU countries, such as Finland, Sweden and Austria, learn from their experiences and work together to ensure a safer and more peaceful Europe.

I agree strongly with Senator Higgins that we should have been more awake to what was happening with Russia. We saw in 2007 a cyberattack on Estonia. We saw the attack on Georgia in 2008 and we saw Crimea in 2014. The Senator is right about the Russia-sponsored attacks that happened in Syria. I agree with Senator Cummins that there were politicians in this House and the European Parliament who denied that Russia was involved. I found it amusing that, when the Taoiseach made reference to Sinn Féin being soft on Russia prior to Christmas, he was criticised for it. However, that was the case and many of us warned of the dangers of Russia. We would do well to listen to the Baltic states and Poland, because they have experience of what is happening.

This leads to the point around cybersecurity. I mentioned the cyberattacks experienced by Estonia.We need to remember that the biggest cyberattack ever on a health service anywhere in the world took place on our health service in the middle of a pandemic and that it emanated from Russia. I am not saying it was state-sponsored, but the Russian Government took very little action, even though we knew that the attack emanated from Russia. Let us be clear that a lot of the battles of the future that will be fought in cyberspace will be state-sponsored, by Russia, China, North Korea and other countries, and that we in Europe need to be particularly careful. I have said in this House before that our cybersecurity is not strong enough. We have not invested in it sufficiently. We need to co-operate more closely through the permanent structured co-operation, PESCO, and at a European level with our European neighbours to be able to repel some of the potential cyberthreats.

Colleagues have talked about the issue of food security. That is vital. I have spoken in this House regularly about the need for a commercial flour mill to be established in Ireland.

As for energy security, if ever there was a case to advance the importance of wind energy, which Senator Martin spoke eloquently about, it is now. We should start to look at Europe's energy coming from Irish wind rather than being dependent on Russian oil and gas. If ever there was a need to fast-track some of our provisions on the use of wind energy and marine energy, it is now.

I am conscious that this debate is on Ukraine, but we should not forget about Belarus or about how the dictator Lukashenko is oppressing the people there. Belarus has been dragged into this war by Lukashenko. We need to continue our support for the people and the opposition in Belarus.

It is important that, out of all this, we leave with a message of hope and that there is hope for the people of Ukraine, that we stand in solidarity with them, that we know they will prevail and that justice, the rule of law and international order will prevail at the end.