Ukraine War Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-24 ============================================================ Gerard P. Craughwell (IND), Labour Panel The Minister is welcome to the House. I think this is the first time I have addressed her since she was returned at the last election. I congratulate her on taking the foreign affairs, trade and defence portfolios. Today marks the fourth anniversary of Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine and it is over 12 years since Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula. I am here to speak of the work of the UCD Ukraine trauma project, an Irish initiative that is saving lives every day in Ukraine, often within minutes of injury and sometimes within seconds. The key point is time is of the essence when it comes to injuries. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale illegal invasion of Ukraine, one of the greatest challenges facing Ukrainian medics has been the management of severe bleeding and major trauma. This is the leading cause of preventable death in this conflict. The techniques and equipment required for advanced haemorrhage control require access to the very early administration of tranexamic acid, TXA. Sadly, TXA remains very limited or unavailable in many parts of Ukraine. Where it is administered quickly, it can reduce mortality by 10% to 25%. This is not a statistic. It is a human being alive because the right intervention happened at the right moment. In response to this need, volunteer advance paramedics and doctors from the Irish health service, led by Professor Chris Fitzpatrick and Professor Gerard Bury, both sitting in the Gallery today, have travelled to the Ukraine since November 2022, sharing their expertise through intensive two-day training courses. These front-line clinicians finish a shift in an Irish emergency department or an ambulance service and then give their own time at personal risk to support Ukrainian colleagues working under bombardment. To date across nine training missions, the UCD Ukraine trauma project has trained more than 650 pre-hospital emergency responders, doctors, dentists, nurses, vets, academic instructors and paramedics from every front-line agency in Ukraine. Alongside this training, they have delivered over 1,700 advanced trauma kits, each containing tools needed to stop catastrophic bleeding and administer TXA in the field. The work does not replace Ukrainian expertise; it reinforces and enhances it. The feedback received is clear and humbling. The skills they teach are being used frequently and the equipment provided is saving lives. Demand for places on their courses far exceeds capacity to deliver them. These wonderful people plan two missions in 2026, delivering six two-day courses to an additional 300 providers. That will mean 300 additional medics fighting to save the lives of brave Ukrainian forces. The projected cost of this work is €558,000 and they have submitted a detailed proposal to the Department of foreign affairs. They assure me that they remain deeply grateful to the Minister's Department, the Irish public, the HSE and the Red Cross, whose generosity, channelled through the UCD foundation, has made every mission to date possible. In December 2025, volunteers were honoured beyond measure when President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the First Lady, Olena Zelenska, recognised the project during their visit to Dublin. Dr. Lyudmyla Zakharchenko, Professor Chris Fitzpatrick and Professor Gerard Bury accepted awards on behalf of more than 50 volunteers at that meeting. In his public remarks, President Zelenskyy asked them to continue and, if possible, to increase their efforts. They intend to honour that request. Their programme is evidenced-based and continually evolving. They are now developing new methodologies for delivering TXA that it is believed will significantly broaden its availability and impact across Ukraine. The roll-out of this innovation will form a central part of their 2026 mission. Ireland has always stood with those who suffer the consequences of war, displacement and injustice. The UCD Ukraine trauma project is a uniquely Irish contribution. It is practical, compassionate and rooted in our national tradition of medical excellence and humanitarian solidarity. The Minister's support is invaluable to them. I ask her to ring-fence the €558,000 from all humanitarian aid that she intends to provide to Ukraine so this project can go ahead. I look forward to keeping her updated on the progress and many hopes for the successful delivery of the key elements in 2026. One thing I should say is that it is not just soldiers now. Civilians are being murdered miles away from the front line. Civilians are suffering trauma. --- 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/seanad/2026-02-24/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:41+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-24