Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am conscious that today we are marking nine months since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We will shortly be joined by the Ukrainian ambassador, H.E. Larysa Garasko, and that a motion around the Ukrainian man-made famine and genocide will be moved in this House. I strongly support this motion. Ireland's strong support for Ukraine continues to be evident. This is a very difficult period for that country but we must continue to hold to account the dictatorships in place in both Russia and Belarus.

Yesterday, I was glad that the European Parliament decreed by an overwhelming majority that Russia was a terrorist state. I am glad the majority of Irish MEPs voted in favour of the motion. Even MEP Luke 'Ming' Flanagan, who would normally be questionable in terms of his stance, supported it. Unsurprisingly, there were two MEPs who again supported the Putin regime. Sinn Féin failed to turn up, but given Sinn Féin's continuous record in the European Parliament in support of Russia, that it not a surprise.

Yesterday, a cyberattack took place on the operations of the European Parliament. This emanated from Russia. We had a very useful debate around Ireland's security strategy last night. The continuing threat of state-sponsored cyberattacks is something I have spoken about previously and I think that we are not taking it sufficiently seriously. We need to continue to up our game and our cyber defences. The fact the European Parliament's web system was attacked last night shows how vulnerable democratic institutions are in these circumstances.

I would also like to raise the ongoing challenges we are facing as a result of climate change. Yet again, we are seeing in Wexford and in other parts of the country, some appalling weather conditions. This morning we saw flooding and weather events that only happened every few years or even once in a generation. Now they are happening with increased regularity. We agreed in this House that we would look at having a debate or statement on different aspects of climate change almost every week. I would ask that the Deputy Leader would ensure in the schedule for the new year that we do not just debate the issues but look at the potential solutions.