Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State and the ambassadors of Ukraine and Lithuania are welcome to the House.

The Ukraine war has been ongoing for two years now and we constantly see some images, but let us be honest, the Ukraine war has slipped down in media importance, if you like. We are seeing more from Gaza now than from Ukraine and one wonders whether we swing to the latest, greatest war, wherever it is. We have to be realistic about this. More than half a million people are currently casualties of this horrible war that no one asked for. Russia decided, for whatever reason, to push the button and go into Ukraine.

The first thing I will talk about is Ireland's position as a neutral State. I constantly hear colleagues say that because of our neutral position, we are in a strong position to negotiate or comment. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, was first to say, that in the case of the Ukrainian war, Ireland is not neutral.That has been repeated by several Ministers. Who in God's name gave them permission to come out with such a statement? If Ireland's neutrality is to be changed it has to be brought to the Houses of Parliament and discussed. People cannot just unilaterally decide we are no longer a neutral state.

When it comes to neutrality, the 1907 Hague Convention IV states that we cannot, under any circumstances, support either belligerent in the case of a war. Our Government has decided unilaterally to provide non-lethal, non-military aid to Ukraine, but this goes against the Hague Convention. We cannot supply any sort of support. Why am I bringing this up today? I am sure the ambassador is wondering if I am backing away from my support for Ukraine but on the contrary. We have weapons in this country that are coming to the end of their lives. Instead of having to spend millions trying to dump them or render them useless, why not give them to Ukraine? This would give the Ukrainians the power they need to fight a ruthless enemy. What is the big deal about this? At the end of the day, we have said we are not neutral in the case of Ukraine. Does anyone think the likes of Vladimir Putin gives a continental damn whether it is a few bandages we provide or weapons? At the end of the day, we have made our position clear that we are not neutral. It is a pity they did not bring it to the Houses of Parliament before they decided this but the decision has been made, so it is time that we rowed in behind it. I hate to say this in front of the Ukrainian Ambassador but right now promises are being made by the West about weapons, tanks, money and all sorts of things coming the way of Ukrainians but very few of them have been delivered.

For those wondering why the war is at a stalemate, it is because the weapons being promised are not being delivered. It is at a stalemate because the Ukrainians are not able to move forward. I agree with what Senator Ward said, that they are up against a massive army. I also agree with what Senator Chambers said, that they are up against an army that really does not care how many of its people it throws under the bus. The Russians are quite prepared to slog it out for as long as it takes in order to try to win a war that should never have started in the first place.

Constant promises are being made to Ukraine. Then we hear the talk of sanctions being put in place and penalties for countries breaking the sanctions. We need to look at the Russia-friendly states and see how their international trade has increased quite substantially in recent years, particularly over the period of the war. Why has it increased? It has increased because we cannot export to Russia but we can do so to countries that are friendly to Russia and these then export to Russia. If sanctions are in place then every item exported needs to be traced as to where it is being exported to and where it is being moved on to from there.

I was in Iran some years ago and there were sanctions in place at the time. One could buy a 7 Series BMW or any computer one wanted in Iran. Let us be honest about it, when it comes to sanctions, commercial interests will always find a way around them. If we are going to engage in sanctions, let them be real sanctions. If we are going to engage in providing support, then let it be full support. If we have decided that Putin's attack on Ukraine was unjust, then for God's sake let us get behind them, not with bandages but everything we can to support them in their battle.

We talk in Ireland about militarily non-aligned and neutral, as if they were one and the same thing. They are actually polar opposites. A country is either non-aligned or neutral. Those who stand up in this House and talk about Ireland's neutrality while we spend 0.2% of our GDP on defence should hang their heads in shame, for God's sake. We should be spending somewhere close to 2%. We should have a proper air force. We should have a naval service that is capable of patrolling our seas. That is what being neutral is about. A country can be militarily non-aligned and be like Iceland, have no army at all and depend on somebody else for defence. We tend to do that. An article yesterday in one of the papers said that if there was a competition for hypocrisy in Europe, the book should close now because Leo Varadkar has won it. He has done so by saying that we do not have a problem in Ireland, we have no one looking after our back door and we are able to look after ourselves. We are not. That is a fact we need to wake up to.

If we are not going to use the weapons ourselves, we should give them to Ukraine. Several countries have offered to take our weapons and get rid of them for us. I know where they would go. They would go straight to Ukraine, and what about it? Bandages are one thing but real support is about putting whatever resources we have behind the people of Ukraine. I agree 100% with the points made by Senator Ward in the closing part of his speech. A peace cannot be negotiated with the likes of Russia. In a peace negotiation, they would probably accede to some sort of a temporary border until two years down the line when they decide to infringe on it again. We saw what happened in Georgia. The Russians simply do not adhere to treaties they make. In fairness to Senator Ward, he was one of the first people, along with Senator Ahearn, who went to Ukraine to see for themselves what was happening in Ukraine. They came back here and related what they saw. I see Senators Martin, Horkan and Malcolm Byrne here today. They are great supporters of what Ireland should be doing for Ukraine.

We are hamstrung by this ridiculous, non-aligned definition. We are not part of NATO. We never want to be part of it. It would not have us. However, if we are going to be supportive of Ukraine and if somebody has decided that we are not neutral in the case of Ukraine, the let the matter be brought to the Houses of Parliament. It can be debated and a process can be agreed upon. We can give them anything we can to help them fight the war.

That brings us to the Ukrainians living in Ireland. Again, the Senators I have referred to already have been true supporters of Ukrainian refugees in Ireland. They should be commended on this. However, a disturbing undercurrent is beginning to develop in Irish society, which is rather worrying. If one or two Ukrainians arrive in a particular village or town and they happen to have a big jeep, some people question how they got here with a jeep. Very few people realise that some Ukrainians had to run for their lives through countries like Moldova to escape. They took everything they had, including their cars.

I am not interested in the nonsense that is being pushed. No one from Ukraine is here because they want to be. They are here because they have to be. The one thing I can say about the Government is that it has been hugely supportive of them. I hope the Government continues to support the refugees coming here from Ukraine. They need our help and support. I know that my colleagues will all echo that sentiment. I think I have said enough for one day and I will leave it at that. Let us actually be honest about the support for Ukraine. Send bandages but we have 84 mm anti-tank weapons, which are now obsolete. One round from one of these weapons can take out a tank. If we send 1,000 of those, there is the capacity to take out 1,000 Russian tanks. That is what we should be thinking about.