Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-13
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

I thank Deputy Bacik for raising a very important issue and for wishing me a happy new year. I reciprocate and wish her a very happy new year also.
The showdown at the moment has been Russia versus Europe. That is the real showdown of substance. I do not like using the word “showdown” – it is conflict. It is an illegal invasion of Ukraine, which has been going on for four years, an appalling attack on the infrastructure of Ukraine, incredible loss of life, deliberate killing of innocent civilians and endeavouring to render Ukraine non-viable into the future in terms of the attack on the energy infrastructure. The losses of life on the battlefield are beyond comprehension - both Russians and Ukrainian men and women at young ages. It calls for an immediate cessation. That is the real conflict going on in Europe right now.
I know the Deputy does not mean this but I am struck in this House that we always end up with the US as the big baddie. We have spent precious little time on Iran in this House for quite a number of years. It has always struck me that Iran has been invisible in any discussions on the Middle East if you go through all the debates in this House, bar the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, raising it on a previous occasion on the Order of Business, I think, in the previous Dáil. It is interesting. That has been the prism through which many people look at the world. That is notwithstanding some of the legitimate criticisms Deputy Bacik made, which I acknowledge. We need a sense of perspective here.
Iran has been, fundamentally, a malign influence in the Middle East through Hezbollah, Hamas and its behaviour in Syria in support of the Assad regime. We stand with the people of Iran in terms of their right to freedom of assembly, freedom of speech and freedom to associate and the need for a new form of government in Iran that is democratically based and facilitates the flourishing of those freedoms.
On Venezuela, Ireland is very committed to the UN Charter and the international rules-based order. Maduro was a very repressive ruler. Unfortunately, the international rules-based order has not been in a position – I say this as a factual observation as opposed to a value judgment – to restrain some of these very authoritarian leaders across the world. There is a problem at the top in terms of the authority and credibility of the international rules-based order. I worry we are at a similar period to that which pre-dated the Second World War when the authority of the League of Nations was eroded. We know what happened then. The world got a chance after the Second World War. We will not get another chance after any confrontation that may arise if the geopolitical situation gets worse.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-13/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-13