Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank President Zelenskyy for his address and extend the solidarity of People Before Profit to the people of Ukraine. We must all join in condemning the barbaric invasion by Vladimir Putin's forces of Ukraine and we must demand accountability for the horrific crimes against humanity and war crimes of which he is undoubtedly guilty. There can be no doubt that the horrific scenes we saw in Bucha and are seeing in Mariupol and elsewhere are war crimes and Vladimir Putin should be held accountable for them.

The people of Ukraine are victims of a barbaric and unjustified imperialist invasion. Russia should end this bloody invasion and allow the people of Ukraine to determine their own future.It is absolutely right that we extend refuge to those who are fleeing Putin's bloody war in Ukraine. Indeed, we should assist Ukraine in the reconstruction that it will need after this bloody invasion by immediately cancelling the debt of Ukraine, which will be a significant obstacle to that reconstruction.

However, we feel duty-bound to say that we reject completely attempts by some in the Government and some commentators to suggest that the crisis in Ukraine is a reason to abandon or weaken Ireland’s military neutrality or move closer to the NATO military alliance, or we reject completely any idea that NATO involvement or escalation of this war would be anything other than a disaster that would threaten a wider European war or even a nuclear conflict.

Ireland’s tradition of neutrality means standing against all warmongers and empires and standing with the oppressed of the world, whether they are the victims of Russian aggression in Ukraine, Chechnya, Georgia or Afghanistan, or whether they are the victims of US aggression and war crimes or those of its allies in Afghanistan, Palestine or Yemen. Putin is undoubtedly guilty of war crimes for his unjustified invasion of Ukraine, but so also is the United States, the UK and some of their allies for their unjustified wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, for which they have never been held accountable. They are also guilty of supporting the Israeli state, which has been indicted recently for crimes against humanity for its treatment of the Palestinian people by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. They are also guilty of supporting the Saudi dictatorship in its brutal war in Yemen, arming that regime and blocking attempts to investigate their crimes against humanity.

We have no credibility in condemning, as we must, the crimes against humanity in Ukraine if we do not simultaneously oppose, condemn and demand accountability for all crimes against humanity, whether they are in Ukraine, Georgia, Afghanistan, Palestine or Yemen. We will not eliminate crimes against humanity, warmongering or imperialism by being selective in our opposition to it. We stand in the tradition of James Connolly and the founders of this State, who said we always stand with the oppressed, whether it is Ukraine, Palestine or Yemen. We oppose all warmongers, whether they are Western warmongers or Russian warmongers.