The Tánaiste said on the RTÉ lunchtime news that Ireland should be more involved in European defence and boost its defence spending, etc. I will speak in this afternoon's debate to express my solidarity with the Ukrainian people and to condemn Putin's invasion of their country. However, the Tánaiste's comments have nothing to do with solidarity with the Ukrainian people. It is a cynical and opportunistic move to push an agenda by the Tánaiste, an agenda Fine Gael has held for quite some time, of aligning Irish foreign policy more closely with the EU and NATO, taking steps towards making the EU a military power and massively increasing the Irish State's expenditure on arms. Where does the Taoiseach stand on the Tánaiste's comments? Does he support the Tánaiste's agenda?

I note the Deputy's reference to the European Union as if it were some foreign entity. We are members of the European Union and are committed to its values. These are universal values of freedom of association, freedom of speech and freedom of media, and self-determination, sovereignty and territorial integrity. Europe's security architecture is an issue from which we cannot escape. The Deputy said last week that European and NATO leaders are warmongers. We now know that to be completely not the case. What the current crisis has exposed and what it means is that the world order as we knew it, in terms of a multilateral and rules-based order, has been turned upside down by Vladimir Putin and nobody else.

Except in Yemen and Palestine.

We should not be attacking anybody else in respect of what is happening in Ukraine. Some Opposition Deputies always try to dilute the culpability of Russia.

The Taoiseach only talks about some bad guys.