Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join with colleagues in welcoming our parliamentary colleagues and friends from Ukraine. I also welcome all of our distinguished visitors and friends. I acknowledge in particular that we have with us here today the Ukrainian ambassador to Ireland, H.E. Larysa Gerasko, who has been a wonderful friend to those of us in the Seanad. The ambassador has done enormously positive work in Ireland and she has been an extraordinary ambassador for her country. We are very appreciative of her work and that of her team. I have visited Kyiv. Ukraine is a beautiful country and I can be quite certain that we will take up the invitation to return to Ukraine and to help in the rebuilding of that beautiful country.

"Solidarity" is a word that carries enormous importance. When we consider European history, "solidarity" is a word that really speaks to our European values. Our history teaches us that we need to look out for each other and that we need to stand up when our brothers and sisters across Europe are being oppressed. We must stand up for those values that we share and regard as important, such values as democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law. I assure our guests, that among all the parties here they have our full support, our full solidarity and our full friendship at this time. I thank our guests for sharing their personal stories with us. Yes they are politicians, but they are also parents, sons, daughters and friends.That personal struggle does impact on their work. We are very grateful to them for sharing that. We can only imagine the kind of suffering they have experienced, including the story that Senator Ahearn has shared, and the difficulties that many families continue to experience in Ukraine. We are really appreciative that our guests have shared those stories with us.

I would hope that on their visit to Ireland, and all of those who are now living in Ireland, Ukrainians have found a very warm welcome. Across Europe we have realised the importance of extending that welcome and the importance of brotherhood and sisterhood being shared with our European neighbours. I reiterate the points made by Senator Ward about that small fringe minority that continues to echo Putin's speaking points at a European level. They do not speak for the politicians of Ireland and they do not speak for the people of Ireland.

We are very proud to have welcomed so many people from Ukraine. There were many people from Ukraine living here prior to now and contributing in an enormous way to society, but that number has obviously increased significantly. We are very proud to have welcomed all of those people. We know that many will want to return as soon as possible but we hope they will find as happy a time as possible here in Ireland, given the difficult circumstances. We are really appreciative of the contribution made to our country, to our communities and to our economy by those who have come here from Ukraine. Into the future, when Putin is beaten, we want to continue to ensure that this friendship will continue. We urge Ukrainians here to get involved with Irish community groups and organisations during their time here. We want to build up that friendship in the long term.

Half a century ago Ireland joined what was then the European Economic Community, which then became the European Union. We are celebrating 50 years of membership. Ireland was a very different country 50 years ago. In many ways EU membership allowed us to step out of the shadow of our nearest big neighbour. EU membership allowed us to grow in many ways, particularly economically but also socially. It allowed us to take our place among the nations of the world. It allowed us to punch above our weight since that time 50 years ago.

I remember as a teenager and as a student seeing some of the big changes in Europe: we saw the collapse of the Soviet Union, we saw the Berlin Wall coming down, and we saw a victory for people and the rise of democracies across central and eastern Europe. This is something that Ireland has always been very proud of recognising. When Ireland held the EU presidency in 1990 we strongly supported German reunification. We realised the importance of this for the German people and that they wanted freedom and democracy in a new Germany. We supported this in 1990.

When Ireland held the EU presidency in 2004, we welcomed ten new countries into the European Union, eight of which were countries from central and eastern Europe that were formerly under communist domination. Those are proud elements of our history as members of the European Union. I assure our visitors today that Ireland will continue to do whatever it can to support Ukraine's candidate status and Ukraine becoming a full member of the European Union. Specific to Ukraine's request, it is incumbent on all of us here within our own European political families and also at diplomatic level, to do everything we can to persuade the other member states of Europe to welcome our brothers and sisters from the Ukraine into full EU membership status.