Michael McDowell (Independent)

I thank the Fianna Fáil Members for tabling this important motion. Those of us in the Seanad Independent Group had put down a similar motion, which was much less elaborate, on 22 September to the same effect. I thank those Members who have also tabled amendments to the motion.

It is important that this House speaks frequently on this subject. While you can illuminate the outside of the Houses of the Oireachtas with Ukrainian colours, there is a sense that events in the Middle East have dwarfed the Ukrainian struggle. Figures have been given here for the number of civilians who have died in the Ukrainian conflict and the invasion by Russia. I know there are reasons we do not get accurate figures for the amount of military casualties on both sides, but not only have there been many brave Ukrainians who have died for the preservation of their country, but I would say that more than 100,000 or maybe 200,000 Russians have been driven into this conflict by Vladimir Putin and have died as well. The extent of this tragedy in Europe is almost incalculable and very hard to grasp.

Mention has been made of Ukrainians playing an important part in Irish life since they came here seeking refuge. I mention Ms Zoriana Drul in our own Seanad Office, who is working to keep this establishment functioning. The extent of integration is everywhere. People ask what Ireland is actually doing, and non-lethal assistance to the Ukrainian military has been furnished. It is probably small in the larger dimension of that military struggle, but the Irish people have extended to Ukrainians very significant financial support. The Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, recently revealed that over €1 billion per year is spent on housing Ukrainian people seeking refuge in Ireland. It is a lot of money for a country of our size.

I note and fully understand how the Fianna Fáil motion does not refer to America, but I want to say one thing. Whatever Donald Trump achieved in Gaza, and we do not know what he has achieved in Gaza or how long it will take for peace to come there, he has the capacity to end the war in Ukraine. Without being recriminatory and being positive as far as I can, my mind cannot exclude the scene when President Zelenskyy was brought to the Oval Office and humiliated there by President Trump, Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Rubio. It was a disgraceful scene. I am glad that, in the unpredictable policy formulation that seems to grip Washington, at least a different attitude is now being demonstrated, but there can be more. Europe should get real backing from America in its contemplation of the seizure and application to Ukrainian reconstruction of frozen Russian assets.

American behind-the-scenes negotiations with Belarus, and even the First Lady's personal initiative in regard to children who have been abducted, show an ambivalence with regard to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I hope that somebody in the American embassy in Deerfield or Ballsbridge listens to what is said in this House. I want to put it on the record: America must now do something. If you want Nobel prizes for peace and to parade the world as bringing peace to the Middle East, you can stop the war in Ukraine if you are determined so to do. The message should come back from these Houses via American diplomats that we expect America to do more to bring this horrific struggle to an end. American ambivalence has been problematic. We have had the extraordinary situation that Russia, China, North Korea and India were all participating in military manoeuvres in Belarus only very recently. The attitude of the Trump regime has created an international alliance against America, at one level, but against Ukraine in particular.

We are also censored in what we actually see. Our media, very kindly and very properly, perhaps, does not show what happens when a bomb hits a railway station, and very rightly.I have seen stuff in videos which turned my stomach, including videos of the execution of Ukrainian prisoners by Russians who were machine gunned into graves. Those kinds of things can never be forgotten. The House must keep returning to this matter. We must keep banging the drum in order that from Deerfield, where the United States ambassador resides, and Ballsbridge, where the United States embassy is located, the message goes clearly back to America that we want it to stop this war and that it can do so.