I pay tribute to Mr. Stanislav Lapko, who many of us have seen on our national broadcaster over the past couple of days. Mr. Lapko is from Dundalk. He is a Ukrainian national who came to our town and set up a life there. Just two and half weeks ago, he was working in PayPal in Dundalk. He is now on the front lines fighting a Russian oppressor in Ukraine. He is there with a number of other Ukrainians who have left Ireland to go back in defence of their native country.

The greatest act of bravery and heroism is to run into a war zone to defend one's country. It would be so easy for people to sit in the safety of Ireland or western democracies where they have been for the past ten, 15 or 20 years. To go back to one's country in its greatest hour of need is an incredible feat of heroism and bravery. A number of Irish people have also gone to help in Ukraine, whether that is with first aid or medical supplies or to act as ambulance drivers, stretcher carriers and a whole range of stuff.

I pray this awful episode in our world and continental history will be over, as soon as possible. When those individuals come back to Ireland and the lives they have built in our country for the past ten or 15 years, they should be honoured by the President in some form of a State civic reception at the highest level in Áras an Úachtaráin, to say that we greatly appreciate them in our country and what they have done here and wish to recognise the bravery they have shown in the defence of their own country. We also want to recognise the bravery of Irish people who have gone over there to provide any sort of help. We should seriously consider doing that. When this whole godawful episode is over, we should put clear plans in process for that.

I will also acknowledge the work of the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, in respect of what she has done to provide absolute clarity. When Ukrainian refugees come to this island, they will have a PPS number; will be able to avail of social welfare supports; will be able to get housing assistance payment, HAP, and to rent, if that is the case, and will have access to all of the social welfare protections of which we are able to avail in this country.

The greatest testament of any country is to be able to welcome refugees from a war-torn country with love, compassion and open arms and make sure they are valued, safe and appreciated members of Irish society for however long they want to stay here. It may only be for a couple of months or years or they may want to stay here for even longer. They are very welcome here and it is very important. It is a testament to the Irish personality of hospitality and warmth. That has to be remembered during these dark days.

I had the pleasure of attending the original London Irish soccer club, Tottenham Hotspur, on Monday evening. It was very moving to see the ceremony beforehand in support of Ukraine. There was a fantastic song from local schoolchildren and huge solidarity from supporters of both clubs. However, the topic of conversation before and during the match was the appalling stance of the British Government in terms of visas for Ukrainian refugees. Conservative ministers made appalling comments the previous week that they could come if they wanted to pick fruit. It really speaks in shameful terms of the values of that government.

I commend our Government on the positive moves it has made to welcome Ukrainian refugees. It is very important we have joined-up thinking throughout this. The challenges will be great but it was wonderful to be able to say to people at that match that the Irish Government was taking a proactive attitude to welcoming people to our country in response to the horrors we were seeing throughout Europe.

One of the other aspects of this crisis is the issue of rising costs for Irish families. I am pleased to see the Irish Government finally take a stance on reducing excise duties. My fear is that whatever is announced today will be swallowed up by tomorrow. What is very important is that the Government takes Sinn Féin's advice to fix a price for petrol and assure the public it will not go beyond that price during this crisis period. I was speaking to a woman from Limerick earlier today who explained to me that her pay-as-you-go electricity costs have effectively doubled. Pay as you go goes half as far as it used to go which is an appalling prospect. We need to see very clear commitments. I do not understand why home heating oil will not be included. I hope there is a late change in stance on that. Home heating oil costs have doubled. It is now €400 for half of a fill of heating oil. Working families cannot afford those sorts of costs. We need to see joined-up thinking.

A number of people have raised the issue of education in the past couple of weeks. It is high time we had a debate on the future of education. I see we have had correspondence from the Catholic education group in terms of its stance on integrated education. We need to talk about integrated education. As an old-fashioned republican, I believe in the complete separation of church and State. We have not gone half as far as we need to in terms of our schooling.

The other issue in education on which I want to have a debate is the subsidy to private fee-paying schools. It was €111 million last year. I have no problem with anyone choosing to send their children to fee-paying schools. I have a massive problem with those people expecting Irish taxpayers to subsidise those fee-paying schools. When one thinks of the back-to-school costs that we talk about every year, €111 million would go a long way towards solving those costs for ordinary families in our public school system. It is high time we had a debate on education, our priorities and the need to move to a separation of church and state in our school system.

Mine is the only party whose leader did not go to a private fee-paying school.

No interruptions, thank you.

I show my solidarity with the Ukrainian people, those who are fleeing war and Russian aggression and those who are still in their country. I am very proud of our country. I am very proud of Ireland for standing in solidarity and supporting Ukrainian people at this time to seek refuge in the unfolding crisis. I would like to see an important step in our rethinking of how we deal with humanitarian and refugee crises around the world. I wish our country would offer the same solidarity and support to all refugees that they rightly show Ukrainian people.

Seeing these events unfold over the past two weeks has been extremely disheartening and difficult to process. Every day, we see innocent victims of war. We also see these victims in Afghanistan, Palestine, Syria and Yemen. I call on the Government to show the same solidarity that is rightly shown to Ukrainian people to people in these countries.

Violence is violence; war is war. We should give all people the same dignity to be able to cross our borders. We should look after all people in that respectful way.

A well known broadcaster recently referred to an image of a blonde Ukrainian schoolgirl as "looking like us". To get protection in the world one should not have to look like an Irish person. I do not know in what way a person would have to look like an Irish person to seek refuge in this country. Many other people, including Muslims, have travelled here in the past from other war countries. Two years ago, we had a refugee crisis. Last year, we had a refugee crisis. This time last month, we had a refugee crisis. Unfortunately, we could not deal with those refugees. I hope to God that going forward we are going to treat people equally.

I am worried about the Roma people in Ukraine at this time, in particular whether they are being treated fairly and are getting equal access to safety. Yesterday, a book was launched entitled, End Direct Provision AND Tackle the International Protection System. There are people in direct provision in this country who are living in horrible situations.

Today I again call on the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, to come into this House to outline what is going to happen to other people here, such as the Muslim people, who are fleeing wars. Are these people to be provided with protection and to be given PPS numbers? Are we going to end direct provision for all or for just some countries? As a Traveller woman, I am concerned that we are leaving too many communities behind.

I want it to be very clear that I stand with the Ukrainian people and with all people who seek protection, including people from Palestine, Syria and Afghanistan.

Well said.

Well said.