Aubrey McCarthy
University of Dublin · Independent · Ireland
“I briefly mention what my colleague Senator Andrews mentioned about the accommodation recognition payment, ARP, and its proposed reduction for those who are hosting Ukrainians in Ireland.”
“I have travelled to Ukraine and seen first-hand the resilience and dignity of the people. Many of the people I hosted are from Mariupol and have nothing to go back to. They are not just people receiving support but people who have become part of the community here. We should never forget why they came here in the first place.”
“Just as I was coming in this morning, standing on the lawn at the Merrion side of Leinster House it is hard to ignore the ragwort that is growing on the grass. Under the Noxious Weeds Act 1936, ragwort is a noxious weed.”
“I extend the welcome to Emma and Adam. I first met them through our homeless services at the Lighthouse Homeless Café. They came to access services. Adam is a bright lad. He is studying away. He is a fanatic when it comes to basketball and I hope that one day, he will play for Ireland, if not in the NBA in the US.”
“As someone who has spent over two decades in Tiglin, trying to get people from homelessness, addiction and domestic abuse back into employment and education, I can say that the Mr Price model works very well.”
“I hope we ensure that people such as Adam are given every chance to fulfil their dreams. I wish Emma and Adam every success. I thank Emma for volunteering at the Lighthouse with my manager, Mr. Rob Byrne. It is something special. I welcome the Belgian Ambassador to the House. He is a wonderful representative of his country.”
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“I wish the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, the Minister, Deputy Helen McEntee, and all of the Irish officials representing our country every success as they lead Ireland in the European Union Presidency.”
“We have come from being one of Europe's poorest countries to being one of its most dynamic economies and we should never forget that it was solidarity that helped us get there. The Presidency comes at a challenging time and Europe continues to face Russia's war in Ukraine. The Leader knows I am the convener of the Ukraine-Ireland parliamentary group. We need to make sure we rise to the challenge to defend and stand with Ukraine during this. Over the next six months, we also have a unique opportunity to help shape Europe for 450 million European citizens. It is a remarkable responsibility and one we should approach with confidence.”
“It was a reminder that even though Ireland is a small nation, we have a loud voice and it carries influence on the central European stage. He spoke, under the motto, "Ní neart go cur le chéile", which means "strength with unity", about how Ireland will lead the EU Presidency for the next six months. We are going to focus on competitiveness, values and security. It is worth reflecting, when we look at that, how far we have come and what European membership has done for Ireland. It has transformed Ireland. Everything is not perfect but it has brought peace, opportunity and prosperity. I see that our nearest neighbour, which opted out of Europe, is now looking at different ways to get back in.”
“I reiterate what my colleague Senator Paul Daly said regarding the electric chargers and price-gouging, as he called it. It seems like we were all encouraged to switch to electric vehicles, EVs, or hybrid cars because they were very cost-efficient, etc. Now that we have all done that, it looks like the pendulum has swung and charging is more expensive than diesel or petrol. We certainly need to look at that. As Senator Andrews mentioned, there are huge opportunities as we taken on the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the eighth time. Yesterday, I was delighted to attend an event at Technological University, TU, Dublin with the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne. He spoke to ambassadors and diplomatic representatives from all over Europe.”
“I acknowledge the remarkable work of the different refuges, including Women's Aid, Safe Ireland and countless front-line organisations. They are doing extraordinary work but, unfortunately, that does not create beds. As legislators, it should be our clear ambition for no woman or child seeking safety from violence to ever be turned away because Ireland has run out of refuge space. That is the standard we should look for.”
“My mother would gather the four of us, my siblings and I, into her car and bring us to Punchestown Racecourse, where we would wait until the early hours of the morning until it was safe to return home. In that case, the car became our refuge. When women have the courage to seek professional help, they are far too often told that there is no space. In 2026, that is just unacceptable. Having worked in homelessness and housing for almost 20 years, I have learned that you cannot ask someone to leave an unsafe place unless you can offer them somewhere safer to go. This is no longer just an issue of domestic violence. It is an issue of housing, justice and health. Families remain in refuges longer because there is nowhere for them to transition to. People who are trying to flee violence do not have a place to go.”
“I will raise an issue regarding a census of women's refuges in Ireland. This showed that in the first six months of this year, approximately 1,900 women fleeing domestic abuse, and their children, were turned away from safe places because there was no room. That is 1,900 women who had the courage to flee violence only to be told to go back because there was no room for them. I have spoken about this issue in the House before because it is personal to me. I have spoken about my own childhood and my father. He was a respected businessman but when alcohol took hold, the home became a different place - a place of fear. I still remember his car pulling up on the gravel.”
“I thank the Minister of State for saying what she said but I think we can do so much better in this area and her reply outlines that.”
“I thank the Minister of State. I see from her reply that she is in agreement that the length of time people are left to wait is not acceptable. I thank her for agreeing with that. I often think of "a stitch in time saves nine". We need to ensure that people are getting timely support, otherwise, it reduces the effect of the help when it is given. If a key phase of development early on in a child's life is missed, that will have an impact later on. The brain is highly adaptable in the first years of life. Early support maximises a child's potential and can dramatically alter long-term development trajectories. I gave the example of Ali's son, who is non-verbal. Early supports are essential there. It cannot be left with the parents for a number of years.”
“They are asking for assessments of need to be completed within the legal timeframe of six months and timely access to therapies, respite supports when families need them and enough special school places so no child like James is left without an education. I look forward to hearing what measurable improvements we can bring and expect and when we can expect them.”
“Families welcomed the introduction of the new national autism assessment protocol and it is a positive development. Protocols are great but they need to reduce the waiting lists. Children need clinicians, therapists and appropriate school places. It is not simply about the assessments. It is about the entire pathway and too often we are seeing children waiting years for an assessment across the board. The system seems to be fragmented and families are left trying to navigate it alone. The parents - Alison and Samantha who are present and Ger who met me - are not asking for the impossible.”
“After receiving that assessment, the early intervention service basically disappeared for them and James received just a handful of speech therapy sessions before being transferred to another team where, despite being non-verbal, he has received virtually no speech therapy for years. Alison has fought for a school place. In the early days she got 19 refusals before securing a place in an autism class. Now James is heading for secondary school but she has already received 18 refusals for an appropriate special school place this coming September. What struck me most about Alison is that she went to the petitions committee, she was heard in Europe, and the NCSE here has known about James's predicament since he was five years old and knew he would need a secondary school place yet here we are going into July and there is none there.”
“Another parent, Samantha, who is present in the Gallery, told me she was advised to expect a two-year wait for her daughter, Eva. Out of desperation she went to Lithuania where her daughter was assessed within weeks and began receiving immediate intervention. When they returned to Ireland, they found themselves waiting once again. No family should have to leave their own country to access basic supports for their child. The Cathaoirleach has welcomed our Deputy Lord Mayor, Alison Field, into the building. Alison's son, James, is 12 years old and is non-verbal. His family knew there was something wrong when he was two years old yet they waited almost two years for an assessment of need instead of the six months required by law.”
“Over recent weeks I have been looking into this and have been contacted by various people and parents. Even though their stories are different, there is a common thread and the pattern is the same across the board. I work with a chap called Ger and his seven-year-old son, Ethan, has autism and global development delay. Although his assessment of need was completed over two years ago, he has only received a handful of speech and language therapy sessions and his family has worked constructively with the services. They have attended all the meetings and they have sought solutions but they are still waiting for the interventions that are recommended in Ethan's assessment. They are not looking for special treatment; they simply want the supports the State has identified as necessary.”
“I thank the Minister of State for being her today to discuss something that is very important, especially to the people in the Gallery. Both the Minister of State and I appreciate that across our health and disability services there are dedicated professionals working every day to support children and families with additional needs. My purpose today is not to criticise those front-line staff but to be constructive and ask what more the Government can do to ensure autistic children receive the timely assessments, therapists and school places that they deserve. My question is as straightforward as I put it. What immediate actions are being taken to reduce waiting times for autism assessments, to ensure therapies are delivered without years of delay and to provide sufficient special school places for children who need them?”
“It places enormous pressure on the private rental market, and it is pushing vulnerable students into insecure living arrangements. One of my colleagues recently talked in this House about sex for rent, etc. If we genuinely believe in equality of opportunity for our students, we need to make sure that we do not accept this. Every student deserves the chance to learn, flourish and fulfil his or her potential. Students should not spend their college years worried about where they are going to sleep at night.”
“I see that through our homeless cafe, the Lighthouse. Education has always been a way out of poverty. It is one of the greatest routes that I have seen to transform lives, but what chance does a student have it they are finding it difficult to know where they are going to sleep at night? At Tiglin, we have seen countless people turn their lives around through stable accommodation, and we have supported many people into further education and employment. We have a wonderful initiative that is funded through the South East Technological University, SETU. For the past year, I have spoken in this House about the shortage of student accommodation and it is no longer a higher education issue. It is a homelessness issue.”
“An article this week revealed that at least 346 third level students reported being homeless in the last academic year. Student representatives believe that the figures are higher and describe this as being only the tip of the iceberg. The article was on thejournal.ie this week. As someone who has worked with homelessness, I have seen the demographics and face of homelessness change. Even though this article disturbed me, it was not surprising. When most people think of homelessness, they have a picture of a person on cardboard with a sleeping bag and a cup. They do not picture a young person who is in the middle of their university degree and is now living in a car or having to quietly drop out of college because they cannot guarantee somewhere affordable to live. It is hidden homelessness, and it is growing.”
“As legislators, we have a responsibility to ask whether it makes more sense to build something new or actually to develop an existing national asset. I commend the team at Explorium on what has been achieved. It demonstrates what is possible when you put your mind to it. If we are serious about preparing an Ireland for the future, we must not only invest in buildings but in curiosity, opportunity and young minds. Explorium is exactly that.”
“I never came across it before. I saw an email on LinkedIn and said I would visit this place. It is a discovery centre with hundreds of interactive exhibits, where children learn by doing. They are not simply reading about science. They are experimenting, discovering and developing curiosity in a way that brings the learning to life. We pride ourselves on being global leaders in technology, engineering and innovation but the next generation of scientists, engineers and innovators are sitting in the classrooms today. If we want to remain competitive then we need to nurture them at a young age. From what I was shown I believe it is a value for money question that deserves consideration. We hear discussions about investing tens of millions of euro in a national centre, but perhaps we already have one within 10 km of Dublin.”
“I commend my colleague, Senator Ruane, on the work she has done in the area and on the report that was launched today. She was also talking from personal experience. I know, even in my own family, what addiction can be like. I also want to speak today about a place I visited that is inspiring young people to engage with science, technology, engineering and mathematics called Explorium, which is in Sandyford. I visited it recently and was impressed not only by the scale but the vision and the innovation behind it. For over 20 years the Government has discussed creating a national children's science campus. Reports have been written, proposals developed and great plans made but yet today, that ambition remains unrealised. What struck me on my visit to Sandyford was that we may already have what we are looking for.”
“I see at first hand, in my work with Tiglin, how alcohol can slowly dismantle a person's mental health, damage relationships and damage families. We need a more joined-up approach that includes early intervention, counselling, addiction treatment, family support, and better dual-diagnosis services. More importantly, we need to get rid of the stigma so that people know, when they want to ask for help, that there is no stigma surrounding it.”
“I also raise an important issue regarding the impact that alcohol can have on mental health and suicide in Ireland. We know that most people in this country can enjoy alcohol socially and responsibly, but there is also a significant number of people for whom alcohol becomes devastating, and we need to speak honestly about that reality. I recently read a heartbreaking article in The Times about a man called Dan, whose family spoke openly about how alcohol contributed to his death by suicide. On the night he died, his alcohol levels were described as staggering. Many families across Ireland can identify with that. Alcohol can intensify depression, increase impulsivity, and deepen feelings of helplessness.”
“I congratulate the Leader. Since I came into this House, he has certainly been a friendly face and shown the rest of us how it is done. Judging by the remarks of our colleagues today, he deserves canonisation rather than election to leadership. I want to mention a good friend of mine, Ann Lane, who was on the hantavirus ship. She got out of quarantine yesterday. We are all delighted with that. She is coming into the House today with Senator Michael McDowell and me. It shows how public events thousands of miles away can impact us here at home. It showed the very best of our public services working together, with her being brought home by our health professionals and Defence Forces. It really showed that when we work well, we work very well.”
“Families are becoming homeless, not because of addiction, mental health issues, etc, but because they have nowhere else to go when the house is sold. The committee's report is very welcome but reports do not house people. We need definite action and urgency on that. Every day we delay more people are losing their home. More than 24,000 people have received eviction notices in the past year, since we changed the regulation. We owe them better than that.”
“You declare an emergency, you deal with it, and then you move on. It is disconcerting that ten years later we are dealing with a trebling of the numbers. That should concern every one of us. Today's report reflects many of the concerns I have spoken about in this House and which front-line organisations have spoken about too, such as the need to focus on prevention and tenant in situ schemes. We need to focus on the members of the older generation who are now entering into homelessness, and how the demographics of homelessness have changed. Through our outreach service at Tiglin at the Lighthouse, we meet people who are not from the group traditionally associated with homelessness. These are ordinary people who, through no full fault of their own, have lost their house because, for example, the landlord is selling the house.”
“This morning, as part of the housing committee, I was downstairs for the launch of the homelessness report. I mentioned in this House before that I appeared before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing and Homelessness back in 2016, at which stage there were approximately 6,000 people in homelessness. The Minister for housing gave an undertaking that homelessness would be eradicated by 2020. The homeless report today deals with a trebling of those numbers in the past ten years. We have more than 17,500 in emergency accommodation, and the report is now saying we hope to eradicate homelessness by 2030. The timeline is fairly tight. We need 300,000 houses by 2030. I know we are describing homelessness as a crisis but for me a crisis is something that is usually temporary and arrives suddenly.”
“I know it is hugely important to support foreign direct investment such Pfizer and Intel, etc., but small and medium-sized enterprises employ hundreds of thousands of people across this country and are the social glue of our towns and villages. We need to seriously examine what we are doing for small businesses because when they disappear, it is not easy to get them back. If they are going, the community will go with them. Ireland cannot become a country where we only support larger corporations.”
“Everybody deserves a standard of living but small employers are trying to absorb all of this perfect storm of rising costs. They are trying to stay faithful and loyal to staff they have had for many years. I know because I recently closed a business of my own. I had kept it going because it was in the family for many years. Pride kept it going. It was there since 1967 but you realise there is only so much you can subsidise and it is a bit ridiculous doing it out of your own pocket when it is not making money. The worrying thing is that I believe we are losing the backbone of Ireland quietly. It is being done one business at a time. It is the local baker, the hairdresser and the café owner. We are the people who sponsor the local football team, the local field day etc. The people in the small businesses in Ireland feel abandoned.”
“I thank the Cathaoirleach and the Acting Leader. I just want to reiterate first of all what Senator Robbie Gallagher said when he mentioned legislation that we decided on, and we all agreed on to be accepted in the referendum that was approved. It seems disingenuous that we are revisiting that legislation in such a short time period. I want to raise something that is affecting every town and is certainly affecting even my own family, which is the slow squeezing out of the small Irish business owner. I saw a post last week in The Irish Times about a café owner whose café is charging €4.25 for a latte. He did the economics on it and it showed that he is making 18 cent on each cup of coffee. The reality is that the margins are very thin and the margins are tight. The cost of insurance has exploded. Commercial rates and wage costs are rising.”
“I understand the concerns regarding GDPR, money laundering and so on. I ask the Minister of State to take one question away with him today. Can we commit to the amendments in this year's finance Bill?”
“I welcome the engagement. I want to be constructive here. What the Minister of State's statement does say is that we understand the strategic risks of inaction, which might be significant. We are also waiting on the Central Bank to come back with its findings and we are also looking at other countries. I do not think the industry is asking for a whole lot here. It is looking for specific amendments to existing legislation regarding the Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicles Act and company law and practical changes that will clearly signal to global firms that Ireland is ready to play a huge part in the next chapter. When the Minister of State is looking at countries that already do this, I have mentioned Luxembourg, Singapore and the UK and they certainly are not waiting. However, I understand that the Government has to be careful.”
“Whether they are jobs in digital assets, blockchain infrastructure or the operation of a legal ecosystem around tokenised finance, these are Irish jobs. The taxes would then flow into the Exchequer, while a graduate from Trinity College, the University of Limerick or University College Cork can build a career at the frontier of financial technology without ever leaving the country. I look forward to the Minister of State's response. I think it is something we can be very strong on in Ireland. I hope we can work together across the House to move this forward.”
“It has set out very specific, targeted changes in legislation that would be required, including changes to the Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicles, ICAV, Act, updates to company law and something as straightforward as allowing registers of fund members to be held on a distributed ledger. These submissions have been received but to date there has been no commitment to act and no timeline offered. The case being made by Irish funds and the industry itself is asking for a political commitment to bring forward the necessary amendments to our laws in Ireland that will allow this to happen. Let us imagine an Ireland where the next generation of global tokenised funds are structured and domiciled here.”
“Today, it sustains over 20,000 jobs and nearly half of them are outside Dublin in towns and counties that depend on this vital sector. It contributes over €1 billion annually to the Exchequer. The fund industry is undergoing a rapid digital transformation and tokenisation is no longer a future prospect. It is already happening. Luxembourg has updated its legislation to accommodate tokenised funds. The United Kingdom is moving with purpose regarding financial services and the markets Act reforms. Singapore has been ahead of the curve for years. These are our direct competitors for the same global mandates, asset managers and jobs. We have to ask ourselves what Ireland is doing in this context. The industry has been making submissions to the Department of Finance since last year.”
“For those who are watching at home, they can think of it like this: instead of their ownership of shares being recorded on a paper register or a centralised database somewhere, it is encoded as a secure digital record, which can be transferred, verified and settled almost instantly at any hour across the world and across any border. What it does is remove layers of manual processing and dramatically reduces costs. It can open investment funds to a far wider range of investors. We have spent years watching Ireland compete and win in a global context with regard to financial services. For four decades, the funds and asset management industry has been one of the great success stories of the Irish economy. Even the International Financial Services Centre, IFSC, when I was much younger, was something that really stood out.”
“I thank the Minister of State for being here today and I am grateful for the opportunity to raise this matter. Let me briefly explain the technology. When the Cathaoirleach introduced "tokenisation" into the record, he said "tokenism", and they are radically different. I am conscious of this for myself, as getting my head around it was difficult. Tokenisation is the conversion of a real-world asset into a digital token on a blockchain, such as a share or an investment fund. It is then registered as a digital token on a distributed ledger.”
“I am telling them that the services are seeing people in their waiting lists who are in terrible trouble and their heads are being fried. Many of the young people who are arriving at the mental health services are not bad kids. They are vulnerable kids and young people who are struggling and, often, cannabis has become part of their everyday lives. We need a mature, evidence-based conversation about the risks associated with cannabis use. We need to listen to the front-line people who are saying that there is an issue. We need to make sure that the resources are properly funded. If the people who are working on the ground are saying that there is a problem, then there is a problem. Ignoring it will not make it go away.”
“Young people are turning up at the centres and accident and emergency departments with psychosis and it is from cannabis. Many years ago, there was a Minister called Pat Carey who was a very capable drugs Minister. He was from the Leader's own party. I remember we were talking about the people who were on the waiting lists. He said that cannabis is seen as harmless, but what is coming down the track is synthetic cannabis that will destroy people's minds. That was like a prophecy; it has come to pass. It is not about demonising young people or trying to criminalise young people. This is about being honest and seeing what cannabis can do. Often, people have the perception that they grow it in their back yard and it is harmless.”
“I want to speak about something I believe we are not taking seriously enough and that is the growing impact of cannabis addiction and cannabis-related psychosis, particularly among young people. As the Leader knows, I have been involved for many years in rehabilitation for people who have addictions. We have seen that there has been a perception that cannabis is harmless and that it is somehow different from other drugs and carries little risk. However, when we talk to addiction centres, such as Cuan Mhuire, Merchant's Quay Ireland, etc., and psychiatrists and youth workers, they tell a very different story. The reality is that more and more young people are presenting to services with issues linked to cannabis abuse, including psychosis.”
“There are serviced lands, vacant buildings and underutilised sites all around Ireland, and vacancy and dereliction grants have been wonderful. They have kicked the ball out of the park regarding success, but grants alone are not enough. The biggest barriers remain infrastructure and planning, and villages cannot grow unless we get infrastructure sorted out. The heart of this is giving people an opportunity to live, work and raise a family in their own communities.”
“Recently we had residents of the Gaeltacht in and we heard from them how, while the Government is committed to protecting the Irish language, many of them cannot get planning permission to live in their own community, so it seems the Government’s policy on protecting the Irish language and its policy on housing and planning are contradicting each other. People who own heritage properties were saying the Government has a wonderful plan on maintaining and restoring properties, which is fantastic, but a lot of them feel their experience shows it is impossible to maintain those properties. Good policies, it seems, can sometimes end up working against each other on the ground. Rural communities have the capacity to grow.”
“I thank the Minister of State for being here. As many of my colleagues have said, it is not necessarily about housing but about whether rural communities can survive and whether rural towns, villages, etc., can have a future. I am on the housing committee and over the last number of weeks we have had the GAA in. Its representatives were saying it is impossible to get players for towns throughout Ireland. We are all agreed we need more homes but we need balanced regional development and then rural Ireland will benefit from that growth. There are too many young people who want to stay in their communities but cannot rent, cannot buy and in some cases cannot build. I live in rural Kildare and trying to get planning permission, even on the farm I have, is difficult.”
“I want to acknowledge Deputy Albert Dolan. His system for stronger oversight regarding where public money is going is a good thing. Public money cannot be seen as monopoly money. It belongs to the people of Ireland and they deserve better.”
“Where is the accountability because the public is entitled to ask questions about what is happening to its money? Every euro that is wasted is a euro that cannot be spent on housing, healthcare, disability, etc. I am involved in the homeless sector. There are 17,517 people in emergency accommodation so people find it impossible to understand how we spent €38 million on buses that we cannot use. As somebody who is in business, I know that if I wasted money repeatedly, I would be held accountable. I am always asked to explain myself to my own staff, learn from the mistakes and put systems in place so they do not happen again. What frustrates people is the feeling that responsibility disappears into a maze of agencies, Departments, etc., and the taxpayer is left on the hook again to foot the foot the bill.”
“Over the past number of months, there has been a lot of waste, mismanagement and a lack of accountability when public money is squandered. Last week, we learned of the Irish Rail IT project, which cost in excess of €50 million. This was €50 million in taxpayers' money. Before that, of course, it was about a bicycle shed and a printer room here and a bicycle shed in Kerry. We now have an extraordinary example, which has been released in the past two weeks, about electric buses. A total of €38 million of taxpayers' money was spent on these buses and they cannot be used because there are no chargers for the buses. Yesterday, €7 million was disclosed as being spent on storing the €38 million buses. How does that happen? Who signed off on it?”
“We need stronger support for young people, early intervention when problems emerge and a clear message that violence is never acceptable and is certainly not entertainment. I heard videos were shared, which is appalling. My thoughts are with Alex's family, friends and loved ones. I hope his family find peace.”
“We need to start asking ourselves why this is happening and why it keeps happening. Alex Coughlan, whom I did not know, was a son, brother and friend. He seems to have been a remarkable individual. He was described as caring and selfless. An article mentioned how he carried an organ donation card. A number of people were thus helped after his death. His family now faces the loss of a loved one and had to face a horrendous funeral. We need to have an honest conversation in the House about violence in our communities. I have spoken in the House about one-punch attacks which seem to be a part of life, yet we are losing people. Every act of violence leaves victims, families and communities carrying the consequences.”
“If material is being exported from Ireland and is contributing, whether directly or indirectly, to Russia's capacity to sustain its war against Ukraine, that has to be taken with the utmost seriousness. I call on the Acting Leader to arrange a full debate on the matter. The Department of enterprise is conducting an investigation which must be transparent and independent and conclude without delay. Our integrity and solidarity with the Ukrainian people deserves full transparency. I also want to mention the tragic death of Alex Coughlan following an assault in Blanchardstown recently. There is a police investigation. When something like this happens, we all express our shock and offer our condolences, and then it seems that we move on until the next time it happens.”
“I want to raise a matter of huge concern that has been reported in the newspapers recently and was even on "Morning Ireland" this morning, namely, the Aughinish Alumina factory in Limerick. The reports suggest that the plant is shipping vast amounts of alumina to be smelted in Russia where it is then used to manufacture aluminium which is then sold to a trading company supplying dozens of Russian arms manufacturers. The CSO figures for the first quarter of this year show that 83% of the factory's total exports were shipped to Russia. The company has said since that was a mistake and a clerical error. I am a convener of the Ukraine group. Ireland has been unwavering in its support for Ukraine and we cannot allow confusion about figures or statistics to obscure the truth.”