An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-24
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Martin Conway (IND), Administrative Panel

I wish the Leader all the very best in his latest endeavour. I join everyone on the common theme of today being the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Little did we think back then that it would be prolonged for four years. We certainly hoped Ukraine would prevail because of the almost universal international support, but the war has ground on. In spite of initial successes, it is very much an entrenched war. I echo what others have said about this needing to stop and how there must be no capitulation in any form to Vladimir Putin. We need to be as steadfast as we were on day one and as Europe was on day one. That needs to continue. I welcome the very strong comments made by the President of European Parliament Roberta Metsola in the Parliament today.
There are a lot of Ukrainian people who have, at this stage, set up home in Ireland and who are wondering about their future because we have a situation where they still only have temporary permission to remain. It has been a protracted period and we should bear in mind a child of four or five years of age who started school in 2022 has been attending four years and somebody who started secondary school is almost at their leaving certificate. We need to engage with our European colleagues and if that is not possible, we need to consider making decisions ourselves about temporary protection so those who have established very definite roots here have a pathway to remain, irrespective of what happens. It would not be the worst thing in the world to have a debate on the situation in Ukraine here with the appropriate Minister as a reminder of the absolute determination of Government policy to support Ukraine, but also to give us an opportunity to do a deeper dive than we are doing under the Order of Business into the present situation.

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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