Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky received a powerful standing ovation from members of the Irish Parliament, prompting a visibly emotional and beaming response from the Ukrainian leader. Lawmakers rose to their feet in a show of solidarity, applauding Zelensky’s resilience, leadership, and the ongoing struggle of the Ukrainian people amid the war.
00:00For an hour to ever long, look for all of Ukraine, Vladimir Selesky.
02:00I now ask members to be seated, please.
03:56War is never a solution, and Ireland knows this truth.
04:02Our own history teaches us that dialogue, however difficult, can bring peace.
04:09The Good Friday Agreement was born from decades of pain and division.
04:16Yet it proved that even the deepest wounds can heal when people choose negotiation over violence.
04:24And that lesson gives us hope for Ukraine.
04:29Today, we meet in a solemn acknowledgement of the ongoing war against your country.
04:36An illegal attack on a sovereign nation.
04:40An assault on international law.
04:43A violation of human dignity.
04:47Every missile and bullet has shattered lives.
04:51Parents mourn children lost.
04:56Families endure displacement and uncertainty.
05:01Futures have been stolen.
05:04And no words can capture the suffering of your people.
05:08We watch in horror as drone attacks escalate.
05:14As your country's infrastructure is ravaged.
05:19At acts that defy all principles of humanity.
05:23The global community must stand united in condemning this war.
05:30We must continue to provide refuge.
05:34We must provide humanitarian aid.
05:38But most of all, we must demand accountability for war crimes.
05:43As a militarily neutral country, Ireland is not, and never will be, morally neutral in the face of atrocity.
05:54Our neutrality is a commitment to peace, not indifference.
06:00Together with our EU partners, Ireland will stand firm behind Ukraine to ensure Russia ends its aggression.
06:11The Irish, who themselves have lived through the trauma of immigration and war, have opened their hearts and their homes to the thousands of Ukrainians who now live and work among us.
06:27Your people enrich our communities and share their culture, even though their hearts are still with Ukraine.
06:36Ireland's journey to peace was long and arduous.
06:42But it succeeded because people preserved in the belief that peace is the only solution.
06:51The same possibility exists for Ukraine.
06:56World leaders would do well to reflect on the powerful words of John F. Kennedy.
07:03An American president born of Irish emigrants.
07:06A man whose family left the very shores of New Ross, my home constituency in Wexford.
07:14As he declared with unwavering conviction in his inaugural address,
07:19Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
07:45President Zelensky, we hope and look forward to the day that Ukraine can celebrate peace.
07:54We stand with the Ukrainian people in solidarity, in friendship and in hope.
08:03May your courage and the strength of your people lead to a just and lasting peace.
08:14I now invite you to your hand.
08:18Thank you so much.
10:35all our people who were forced to flee back to a peaceful Ukraine back home.
10:43And we are working to make it real. This morning here in Ireland our team
10:53delivered a full briefing following the meetings in the United States and we are
10:59fully engaged in negotiations and we are only stepping up our efforts. Our team
11:07is now looking ahead to next very important meetings. Today Ukraine is
11:13closer to peace than ever before and there is a real real chance. But we must
11:21seize this chance fully the whole world not just one of the another powerful
11:27country. Ukraine wants peace. Ladies and gentlemen one strong country can start a
11:39war. Another strong country can help to stop the war. But to restore justice and
11:48defend what's right we need a community a world made up of many different nations.
11:56It is the community of nations that decides united by shared sentiments,
12:03shared aspirations, a shared desire for justice. It is a community of nations that
12:13makes peace truly lasting. Geographically large or small, politically influential or
12:21playing a different role economically powerful or not. When these different voices stand together
12:28on the side of justice, on the side of free people, there is only one possible outcome. Peace and justice must prevail.
12:36When you have a true community of nations on your side you cannot be crushed and your rights can be restored. No one can break the world alone. Not even Russia. Not even with its few bodies. No one can lie to the entire world forever. Not even Putin. No one can stand against everyone else.
13:06And that is the truth. And that is the truth. But also true one can inspire everyone else.
13:12And that is the truth. And that is why Ukraine is fighting for every voice in the world, for every community in every region. We are trying to reach every heart, to answer every doubt, to counter every accusation with facts.
13:32And we are searching. And we are searching for and finding friends wherever we can.
13:39We have managed to unite the majority of the world. And that unity has become our main weapon in protecting life. And we have kept the world's attention. And that gives us time to resist Russia's attempts to destroy us.
13:59To destroy us. We are involving everyone we can in diplomatic efforts. And that is the best path forward.
14:06It is a great honour for me to stand here today. In a country that understands the price of freedom.
14:16Understands better than many, many in Europe, better than many, many in the world.
14:25And that shares our belief that every voice counts. Every nation matters.
14:35Ireland is doing so much to help others understand why it is important to stand together to remain a community based on shared values.
14:47Thank you for that. And we will continue to coordinate with you and with everyone who can help and to inform all those who can influence the outcome.
14:59So that one day we can achieve what many still believe to be impossible.
15:05Not just silence instead of bombs. Not just clear skies instead of Russia's drones and missiles.
15:14Not just a pause between strikes but lasting lasting peace, guaranteed security and true justice.
15:22Human memory is often short and attention can be fleeting.
15:28So please remind the world every time it is needed that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a criminal and unprovoked act of aggression which cries for justice.
15:44It's happened for one reason only because Russia wants to treat Ukraine as its property and Ukrainians as if they belong in its backyard like livestock.
15:58So that no politician in Europe or somewhere else falls into amnesia forgetting everything we have achieved together through our defence.
16:13And I urge you to oppose any decision that we can pressure on Russia for this war as long as war and occupation and the propaganda of hatred continue.
16:26All the pressure on Russia must remain in place so that Russia does not believe it will be rewarded for this war with stolen Ukrainian land or kidnapped thousands kidnapped Ukrainian children.
16:43Please continue supporting all efforts to make the tribunal for Russia's aggression a reality so that one day it truly begins its work and so that Russian killers cannot freely travel the world as if they have done nothing wrong.
17:02We must protect the unity that has existed since 2022, a unity of different nations united in the protection of life and justice.
17:27And we are speaking about the future.
17:28And we are speaking about the future.
17:30There is no good future for Europe without this unity.
17:37Ukraine wants to stand together with those whose history, values, struggle reflect our own.
17:46We want to stand alongside Ireland in the European Union as equals.
17:55And I am confident that this will happen.
17:59Europe cannot run away from its own values.
18:03It must stand up for them.
18:16It must stand up for them.
18:18And Ukraine is doing exactly that today on Europe's behalf.
18:24Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, dear Ireland, please remember your voice matters from Ireland's vote at the United Nations to the wars in your media, from your thoughts here in Dublin to every home in the global Irish community around the world.
18:47That's millions of people who can influence hundreds of millions more.
18:55When the most powerful apply pressure, the global community helps guide that pressure in the right direction.
19:04Just as there is no capital in the world unaware of what St. Patrick's Day is, there should be no capital that does not know that the Irish together with the Ukrainians and many other nations are united for real peace.
19:25A peace without humiliation and based on something truly real, on shared values.
19:46And those values are not business as usual, not appeasement of killers, not turning a blind eye to what has happened.
19:57Among those values is this.
20:01The aggressor must be held accountable for what was done.
20:07Please take an active role in making the tribunal for this aggression a reality, not just joining, but pushing, working, insisting that justice might begin with accountability.
20:24Please continue to advocate for every form of sanctions against Russia, and it's time for Russian assets to serve the cause of peace, to help defend and rebuild Ukraine.
20:38This is a long overdue decision, and it must be implemented.
20:43And please call on everyone in the world to help return all their children abducted by Russia, and all the prisoners still held in Russian jails, jails and camps, many of whom have been there not just since 2022, but since 2014, when Russia launched its hybrid war against us and occupied our Crimea.
21:11This has gone on far too long to simply close our eyes and turn the page on Russia.
21:19Without a just peace, hatred will not fade.
21:24It will continue to smolder and provoke new and new violence.
21:32History has seen this before, and this time it must be different.
21:39We need real peace.
21:43Help us achieve it, and never lose your faith in Ukraine.
21:49Thank you, Ireland.
21:50Glory to Ukraine.
23:07I want to thank you for being here today in the heart of our democracy
23:10and for your address delivered to a joint sitting of Dáil and Shannadairn.
23:15In 2022, when I had the privilege of giving the closing remarks to your online address to this House,
23:21I said as we sat here in Dublin that missiles and bombs were descending on the innocent women, children and men of Ukraine.
23:32I could not have imagined that three years, seven months and 26 days later,
23:39Russia's war of aggression would be continuing and continuing to visit unspeakable atrocities on the people of Ukraine.
23:48A month after that address, I travelled to Ukraine with the Denkion Khorla.
23:54And when we met you in your office, I wondered how you remained so calm amid all the chaos.
24:00There we witnessed firsthand the harrowing consequences of Russia's war.
24:07In Bucha, we saw the mass graves of those killed by the Russian army.
24:11In Urpan, on the outskirts of Kyiv, we met with those citizens who had turned soldiers
24:18and who had stopped the Russian army and turned them backwards.
24:23Mr. President, during your inauguration speech in 2019,
24:27you told your officials not to put your picture on the walls of their offices,
24:32to put the pictures of their children on the walls of their offices
24:36and to look at them each time they made a decision.
24:41This accordion cuts to the core of our Irish and European values,
24:46values that promise freedom and integrity and equality.
24:52There are children in Ukraine who have never known a day's safety,
24:55have never known a day's peace,
24:58whose parents go to sleep in often freezing temperatures without power or heat,
25:05wondering if they will be awakened by air raid sirens.
25:08They continue to endure that terrible reality.
25:12There is no explanation that you can give a child for what is happening in Ukraine.
25:18That is not because they are too young to understand.
25:21It is because what is happening is wrong and cannot be justified.
25:25In the 21st century, in a world facing many challenges,
25:29we cannot accept the devastation that is being put upon innocent children and their families,
25:35some of whom are here today who had to flee their homes and their livelihoods
25:40and journey thousands of kilometres into the unknown.
25:43We must resist aggression at every turn.
25:49Our guiding star must be international law and rules-based order with respect for sovereign nations.
25:57It is the only way we can ensure a stable and just Europe,
26:01a Europe that rose from the ashes of conflict in pursuit of a peaceful future.
26:07There must be peace.
26:08It must be a lasting peace.
26:11We on this island have known violence and struggle,
26:14a violence that devastated our communities.
26:17But we now know peace.
26:18Ireland and Europe have stood with and will continue to stand with Ukraine.
26:23And we hope Ukraine finds a just peace in the near future.
26:29As I go here look at Sianadeirn and on behalf of the members of Sianadeirn and Dáil Éirn,
26:34I thank you for being here today.
26:36And I want to thank all those who made it possible.
26:40Out there on, thank you for addressing the houses of the Oireachtas.
26:43Go raibh maith agat.
26:44Slava ye Ukraine.
26:46Go raibh maith agat.
26:46Thank you, senators and deputies.
27:04And just before we adjourn the sitting, if I could once again reiterate,
27:08it's an honour to have you here with us prior to our last address, which was on a big screen.
27:14I thank the members for the cooperation.
27:17I thank all of the staff who have made this possible.
27:20And your own detail who have had seriously good engagement with us.
27:24Thank you to the First Lady, Madam Zelenska, who has accompanied you.
27:30Members, the session is now adjourned until 6pm.
27:33But I would ask that you please stay in your seats until the President has left the Chamber.
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