Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Members of Seanad Éireann, the Senate of Ireland, it is an honour for us to have Ms Lesia Vasylenko, MP, Ms Alyona Shkrum, MP, Mr. Dmytro Natalukha, MP and Mr. Rostyslav Tistyk, MP, here today. When your President addressed the joint sitting of our Houses of Parliament a number of months ago, in my response to his passionate speech, I asked Deputies and Senators to join me in welcoming five-year-old Anastasia and her mother, Yana, whose husband, and Anastasia’s dad, like thousands of others, is in a defence unit in Ukraine, fighting to keep it free and independent for Anastasiia’s future. They have travelled 4,000 km from Kyiv to be in Dublin, having had to leave their home under Russian artillery fire. I ask Members to join me in welcoming five-year-old Anastasiia and Yana to the Distinguished Visitors Gallery.