Article 20 of Treaty on European Union Regarding Enhanced Co-operation: Motion
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-27
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Sharon Keogan (IND), Industrial and Commercial Panel

I rise in support of the amendment before us, which reaffirms Ireland's long-held policy of military neutrality while ensuring that the support we give to Ukraine is humanitarian, civilian and grounded in accountability. Let me be absolutely clear: the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was an act of aggression driven by expansionist ambition and the suffering endured by the Ukrainian people since then has been immense. They deserve solidarity, compassion and assistance, particularly in the protection of energy systems, hospitals and essential civilian infrastructure that has been relentlessly targeted. However, solidarity does not require that Ireland abandons its own principles and blindly signs anything Brussels sends us. It does not require that we funnel money through EU mechanisms that can be used for military purposes. It certainly does not require that we sign blank cheques into systems where oversight is weak. As I said before, Ukraine's own anti-corruption agencies have acknowledged the scale of corruption within the country's political, defence and procurement sectors. Billions have been miscalculated, misallocated and misappropriated over the past decade. This is not a judgment on the Ukrainian people, who have fought bravely and honourably, but an acknowledgement of the governance reality. When we are to provide large-scale loans with diminished checks and balances, it is only responsible to ask whether these funds will reach the civilians who truly need them. Furthermore, in the middle of the talks of the Russians repaying the loan or how Ukraine needs it for reconstruction, there seems to be an exactly zero serious consideration of what the actual end of this conflict will look like. This should force us to be extra considerate in the nature of our support to a nation at war. The amendment proposed by Senator Murphy does something simple and sensible. It ring-fences Ireland's participation strictly for non-military, humanitarian and civilian purposes. That is consistent with our neutrality and our values. We support Ukraine, but we will not be drawn by stealth or by pressure into EU-level financing of war, either by unelected Brussels bureaucrats or by the cluelessness of our Government. There is nothing stopping member states that wish to provide military loans from doing so independently. Ireland should not compromise its neutrality by participating in an EU vehicle that blurs the line between humanitarian assistance and military financing. This amendment protects our long-standing foreign policy doctrine and respects the fact that the EU was never intended to act as a military alliance by proxy. For those reasons, I support the Sinn Féin amendment and I urge all colleagues in this House to do the same.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:33+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-27