“WE HAVE TO support and speak up for Ukraine, as they have asked us to do,” Taoiseach Micheál Martin has told the Global Ireland Summit in Dublin today. 

The Global Ireland Summit theme this year is ‘Ireland Reconnecting’ and is focusing on how Ireland reconnects with the world, against the backdrop of global crises.

Micheál Martin told the crowd of ambassadors, heads of missions and diplomats in attendance at the summit today that Russia must be held to account.  

“Today I intend to speak bluntly,” he said, stating:

“As we meet today with a terrible war raging in Europe, where hard power is doing its damnedest to cast aside multilateral institutions and international law, we need to redouble our efforts to ensure that hard power for hard power’s sake does not win.   Russia must not benefit from this conflict.

“As President Zelenskyy asked when he addressed the Houses of the Oireachtas last week, we, Ireland, have to show leadership. That means engaging globally to keep front and centre our support for the rule of law, and the rights of countries to their independence, and to their own democratic political orientation.

“These things matter. We have to support and speak up for Ukraine, as they have asked us to do. We have to hold Russia to account,” he said. 

The Taoiseach said Ireland has been to the forefront of advocating for Ukraine’s membership to the European Union. 

He said EU membership offers security and protection to the aggression that is being seen in Eastern Europe right now. 

Taoiseach: ‘Russia must not benefit from this conflict’ pic.twitter.com/lgcnwobnwg

— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) April 14, 2022

“This is a moment of great crisis – a time of great unpredictability for the world, for Europe, for all of us.  

“This is also one of those moments when the distinction between domestic policy and foreign policy evaporates before our eyes,” he added.

“Events at the eastern edge of Europe will create challenges right across the European Union, throughout the Middle East and Africa,” said the Taoiseach. 

A damaging cycle of rising inflation and interest rates is impacting on the cost of living and will create challenges in the Irish economy, he said. 

“We have a responsibility for the displaced people and refugees who have seen their homes and their communities laid waste by Putin,” said Martin.  

“We are all touched by the war in Ukraine. Our future wellbeing is tied to that of the wider European continent, and arguably wider than that,” he told the crowd at Dublin Castle. 

The Taoiseach said the ‘security’ now figures in our every conversation.

“And although this sudden focus on security feels new and unexpected, it is not abnormal,” he said. 

“Democracy will never be unchallenged.  Territorial integrity is challenged repeatedly in every corner of the world. Every generation has to confront destructive, anti-democratic forces. The unlawful, unjustified war in Ukraine is unlikely to be the last such moment in our lifetimes,” said Martin. 

The Taoiseach said Ireland is one of the fortunate beneficiaries of European Union membership.  

“With greater freedom comes greater responsibility – and now, at this time, it is fair that others would ask whether we are shouldering a fair share of responsibility – showing the leadership demanded of us – to safeguard those freedoms,” he said. 

Quoting Edmund Burke from 1770, the Taoiseach said: 

… when bad people combine the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one. 

“Today, we would recognise those words as a clarion call to multilateralism.  We would also say that Burke’s sentiment explains exactly why the European Union was formed.  It is a strong union, that has to be strong. It faces formidable external threats as well as internal challenges,” he added. 

He said the struggle to preserve, strengthen and deepen the European Union is one in which Ireland must be an active participant.