Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber, his old home. I thank my Fianna Fáil colleagues for tabling this very important motion. Obviously, we in Fine Gael support it.

As Senator O’Loughlin mentioned, we had a very good and productive meeting with the Ukrainian ambassador here in Ireland that finished about an hour ago. I welcome her and thank her for all of the work she does on behalf of Ukrainian citizens in Ireland, and for keeping us informed on what we can do to help. It is lovely to see some Ukrainian friends in the Gallery, particularly those of a very young age. Oftentimes I hear Ukrainian people thank Irish people for welcoming them in, but we want to thank them for the positive contribution they have made to Irish society, and in particular to young people. I have a child in senior infants in a tiny school in a small village in the countryside. He has friends who are Ukrainian. They go to school and integrate. It is brilliant for his development as a young child to understand that the world is bigger than Ireland and that people who come from different diversities and backgrounds can become friends. We actually have a couple of Ukrainian kids who we think could be good GAA players as well. They are integrating very well at a young age.

Other speakers spoke about their visits to Ukraine and their personal experiences there. As Leas-Chathaoirleach of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, I was there a couple of months ago. I have seen quite a substantial change in the past three years. My first visit to Kyiv was in April 2022, just two months after the war started. We were the first delegation of European parliamentarians to visit and stay overnight. At that time, the city was absolutely empty. There was nothing happening; there was no life. It was very clear we were in a war zone. I spoke about this at the committee today. The second time I visited was in August of that year, maybe five or six months into the war, and the rebuilding of the country had already started. The first time I went to Bucha, the bridge had been bombed. To travel to Bucha one had to go around the bridge and down a dirt track. I came back six months later and the bridge was built again and you could travel out. The point is that while this war has been going on for the past three years, the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian Government have consistently tried to rebuild the country to build back that confidence with the Ukrainian people. On my last visit to Ukraine, for all the world Kyiv looked like a normal city, as Senator O’Loughlin and others would agree. Restaurants and coffee shops are open and people are going to work. If you did not know any better, you would think everything is fine, but that is just not the case. As other Senators have mentioned, there is an app that sets sirens off to let people know a missile is coming within the next five minutes and everyone needs to go to a bunker or the underground metro network to try to find shelter.People ask all the time why it is looking like it is a functional city. As would happen in any country, the reason is people at some point have to try to get on with their lives and live their lives. The only way to feel some way normal is trying to get up in the morning, go to work and give their children an education, but in the back of their minds, they know of the possibility of sirens going off. The frustrating part of it is that, from my experience, most of these sirens are going off at night-time. This impacts on sleeping and the daily lives of Ukrainian people who are trying to live a normal life. When we talk about rebuilding the country, that is where Ireland can play a role. We have had a number of companies already that have invested in Ukraine. As the ambassador said earlier, Ukraine is open for business, and it is open for investment. That is where we should be looking at the moment.

When I was there, Deputy Barry Ward and I had a one-hour meeting with President Zelenskyy. We discussed many issues. One of the points I wish to put to the Minister of State is that, in terms of rebuilding, every country can play its role. The first deputy minister for development of communities and territory development, Ms Aliona Shkrum, is writing to all departments of foreign affairs in the EU asking that each country appoint an envoy to Ukraine. Ten of the 17 countries have done that. The UK has done it. The Labour MP for Leeds, Mr. Alex Sobel, has been appointed as an envoy. The thing they have experienced in the past six months is that having an envoy on behalf of a country speeds up the process of companies coming in to invest, develop and rebuild Ukraine. We cannot rely on Ministers. The Minister of State is busy, the Tánaiste is busy and there are a lot of things that have been done, but if we appoint someone with the responsibility of helping the rebuilding of Ukraine from Ireland, we can speed up that process and help our friends abroad.