Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This evening has been one of those wonderful, exceptional occasions we have in the Seanad. It is one we will remember for many a day. The memory of it will stay with us. I welcome Ms Vasylenko, Ms Shkrum, Mr. Tistyk and Mr. Natalukha. They are exceptional ambassadors for their country and do their country proud. Their presentations were moving and filled any deficit of information anyone here might have had.

I welcome the new Ukrainian Irish to the Gallery. They were accompanied earlier by Councillor Grainger, who put through a major motion in her council yesterday in favour of Ukraine.

I salute the Cathaoirleach and Senators Ward, Ahearn and Dooley for travelling to Ukraine. That was an important initiative. They displayed courage, empathy and solidarity in doing that. I congratulate them.

I will reference a point made by Mr. Natalukha with regard to investment by Kingspan in Ukraine. My colleague, Senator Wilson from Cavan, and I have strongly supported that initiative by Kingspan. We have urged Kingspan to publish it so that it may encourage other investment in Ukraine.

Ukraine is the victim of an illegal and barbaric war. That has been manifest on many fronts. There has been genocide. There have been sexual crimes of horrific proportions. Children have been kidnapped. Those are aspects of a dreadful, illegal and barbaric war. In the face of that war, Ukrainians have displayed an indomitable spirit and extraordinary courage. We stand in awe of them. They are a resourceful and resilient people.

I had the privilege of being the first Irish person to speak at a debate at the Council of Europe on the expulsion of Russia. I opened with a phrase that said it all: Russia has expelled itself. That is effectively what Russia has done. Russia has expelled itself from European values, Christian norms, objective morality, international law and international bodies.

I have had the privilege in the past of visiting beautiful Kyiv and spending a few very happy days in Kharkiv. It is shocking to witness what is happening now in those places.

There is something in our DNA in Ireland that makes us understand the people of Ukraine. We suffered, as did the Ukrainians, a shocking famine. We lost 1 million of our people in the period of the Famine, from 1840 to 1850. During that time, 1.4 million people left our shores. There were 1.4 million displaced persons and another 1 million were the subject of a genocide. It is in our DNA. We empathise, we get it and we understand. We salute the people of Ukraine and are in solidarity with them.

We in Ireland strongly support the sanctions on Russia, which must be implemented to the letter of the law. They must be stepped up. We in Ireland must be willing to make sacrifices. There are clear sacrifices for us in the implementation of the sanctions. We must support Ukraine's candidate status and its accession to the EU. It must get candidate status immediately. As a country, we strongly support that. As I said earlier, we must support the rebuilding of our guests' wonderful country. There must be international support for the investment in that rebuilding.

I consider this one of the most unique, wonderful and moving occasions there has been in our Seanad. I salute my two colleagues who were at the forefront of organising this session, with the support of the Cathaoirleach. All I can say is Slava Ukraini.