Post European Council Meeting: Statements Dail Éireann — 2026-01-14 ============================================================ Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (SF), Cork South-Central Absolutely, yes. I have acknowledged that and I agree with that but we also have to acknowledge that for other jurisdictions, including Ukraine, Greenland, Denmark and all those other countries I referenced, there has been a precedent set. Regardless of whether the Irish Government likes a particular government, it has to acknowledge that a precedent has been set. If it does not speak out in respect of international law in one instance, it will be constrained from doing so in another instance. It clearly has implications for areas about which Ireland is concerned, such as Ukraine. It very obvious that the invader of Ukraine - the Russian Government of the Russian Federation - may seek to manipulate precedent such as this. It is important that the Irish Government stand on the side of international law in respect of that, as it has historically. That is crucial. I want to take the opportunity to reiterate Sinn Féin's solidarity with the people of Ukraine in the face of Russia's brutal invasion of their country. Four nearly four years now, the courageous people of Ukraine have stood against a brutal Russian onslaught and invasion. We have consistently called for efforts to build a sustainable and just peace. It must be sustainable and just. To ensure that, the Ukrainian people clearly have to be at the table. For too long, efforts have been made to exclude the Ukrainian people from the table and talk over them. Nothing can be decided about Ukraine without Ukraine. Ireland should use its voice to the greatest extent possible to achieve and support an end to the conflict in Ukraine and support its people. I will return briefly to the situation in Sudan, which is truly horrifying. I recognise the Irish Government is one of a number of governments and does not take sole responsibility for the lack of emphasis on a European level on the conflict in Sudan, but we are talking about slaughter on an incredible scale. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of people. It is not even clear where tens of thousands of people even are. The numbers who have left Al Fashir and the numbers who are still in it do not correlate. Tens of thousands of people are potentially unaccounted for, with many likely slaughtered in what is ethnically motivated violence that is being fanned by external actors, including the United Arab Emirates in particular, with a flow of very sophisticated weaponry that is not of a small or limited scale, but of a large scale. Ireland and Europe have a strong relationship with that country. It has to begin to use its voice much more firmly, including at European level. This needs to get much closer to the top of the agenda at European level. Ireland must continue to consistently emphasis the need to maintain humanitarian access to alleviate widespread suffering of the civilian population and to provide humanitarian assistance to support communities in Sudan and those displaced in neighbouring countries. We heard from the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, that the occupied territories Bill would be limited to goods. At least, that is certainly how it was reported. To my mind, what the Government is proposing will create difficulties for it on all sides. If it is looking to address one concern, it is will create more on the other side. It comes back to that point of international law. We are talking about the two-state solution. If the two-state solution is the way forward - it is my view that it should be the way forward - the manner in which the Israeli Government is running away from that, by facilitating settler violence in the West Bank and the proposals it has for Gaza to effectively try to install some kind of viceroyship, is undermining that. The Irish Government has to find ways to exercise its influence. The occupied territories Bill is but one means of that but one crucial way and one in which it can lead the world. If it chooses not to do so, the Government will very much regret that in the years to come. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-14/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-01-14