Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements
Dail Éireann — 2022-05-17
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Ivana Bacik (LAB), Dublin Bay South

I thank the Taoiseach for outlining the visit to Finland and Estonia. We have all been conscious of the volte-face by Finland and Sweden in announcing that they would be joining NATO. I take this opportunity to restate the Labour Party's support for the principle of military neutrality in Ireland. There is immense public support for neutrality in Ireland, and I do not think there is any suggestion of a similar move here. We would be very strongly opposed to it. In the face of brutal Russian aggression and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, however, as an internationalist party, we want to express our support and solidarity for the people of Ukraine and our condemnation of that Russian aggression. Military neutrality does not mean political or moral neutrality in the face of brutal and unprovoked aggression on the part of a state acting in an imperialist and militaristic sense, as Russia has done in invading Ukraine. That is a view the Irish people share.
That is why there is such immense support for the solidarity we have shown in bringing Ukrainians here and in supporting Ukraine in any non-military way that we can.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2022-05-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:50:27+00:00
Sitting date: 2022-05-17