Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are honoured to have them here today. When the Ceann Comhairle and I were invited to Kyiv by the Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, we met with President Zelenskyy, who signed a note for Anastasiia which said "Be strong, be brave". She has certainly been that. We cannot imagine what she and her fellow Ukrainian refugees have gone through, having to leave their country and seek asylum and safety in other European countries. We cannot imagine what it must feel like to have one's future become so uncertain so quickly. Anastasiia, Yana, the ambassador and our friends who have been recently externally displaced from Ukraine have joined us for the Ukrainian Members' address to our Parliament, the first address in person by Members of the Ukrainian Parliament to a chamber of another national parliament anywhere in the world since the war began. I thank them for this great honour. We welcome them as guests of our Parliament in the same way as thousands of Irish people have welcomed people from Ukraine to our country.

On the spring morning when the President addressed that historic sitting of the Dáil and Seanad, we were aware that, thousands of miles away, bombs and missiles were descending on his fellow countrymen, citizens, family, friends and neighbours, innocent Ukrainian men, women and children. War crimes have been committed by the Russian forces in Bucha and elsewhere and this has been shown to the world. We are facing a regime led by a war criminal and he must face justice like any other war criminal. Seanad Éireann recognised the invasion of Ukraine as an act of genocide. President Zelenskyy and the people of Ukraine have shown by their words and actions their bravery in the face of this Russian invasion.

Our Tánaiste, deputy Prime Minister, responded to the address by the Ukrainian President to our Parliament when he said: "In the long history of our own country we have never invaded another, but we know what it is like to have been invaded and to have the very existence of our national identity questioned." President John F. Kennedy spoke on the same theme when he addressed our Parliament over 50 years ago. He spoke of Ireland's condemnation of Russian aggression and oppression of its neighbours, saying: "For knowing the meaning of foreign domination, Ireland is the example and inspiration to [others] enduring endless years of oppression." President Zelenskyy in his historic address to that joint sitting of our Dáil and Seanad referred to Ireland's military neutrality: "Ireland is a neutral country but it has not remained neutral to the disasters and to the mishaps that Russia has brought to Ukraine." In that previous address by President Kennedy to our Parliament, he acknowledged Irish neutrality but also acknowledged, like President Zelenskyy, that Ireland "is not neutral between liberty and tyranny and never will be." That is as true today as it was over half a century ago.

As an international community, we must never be neutral in the face of tyranny. We also work better when we work together. That is why Ireland has supported Ukraine's membership of the European Union. Our Prime Minister or Taoiseach spoke of Ireland's support for Ukraine and its membership of the EU. When President Zelenskyy addressed the Parliament, the Taoiseach said: "I welcome and support Ukraine's application for EU membership." I reiterate support for that application. It is the democratic right of Ukraine and the people of Ukraine to determine its political future.

We can and must do more. We in Ireland, Europe and the wider world must be relentless in our support for Ukraine, not just today and tomorrow but until the war is won.