Taoiseach labels Vladimir Putin a 'bully and a thug'

Micheál Martin says Ireland has no hesitation in supporting sanctions against Russia

Micheál Martin has described Russian president Vladimir Putin as a 'thug' who has committed war crimes in breach of international law. Picture: Alexey Nikolsky/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has described Russian president Vladimir Putin as a "thug" and a "bully" who has committed war crimes in breach of international law.

Speaking in the Dáil, Mr Martin also said while he understood the anger towards the Russian ambassador and his utterances in advance of the invasion, he said no EU country was proposing the expulsion of ambassadors at this time.

He said it was important that Ireland works in unity with EU partners.

Mr Martin said it was important from a practical point of view, in terms of looking after our citizens — either in Russia or in Ukraine — that we keep all channels open right now. 

He said Ireland had "a limited presence and the embassy in Moscow" with six individuals, who "have a fundamental function to look after our citizens in Russia”, he said.

It comes as Ukraine's prime minister told Mr Martin the situation on the ground in Ukraine was "extremely difficult and tough".

The Taoiseach spoke with Denys Shmyhal on Tuesday evening with the Ukrainian PM saying civilians, including children, were being killed in indiscriminate attacks.

Mr Martin said his Ukrainian counterpart "thanked Ireland for our solidarity, political, economic and humanitarian support in the face of Russian aggression".

He added he told Mr Shmyhal of Ireland's strong support for EU enlargement and Ukraine’s application for membership.

Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, earlier appealed to the European Union to grant the country membership to the bloc.

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In the Dáil on Tuesday, Mr Martin said Ireland had no hesitation in supporting sanctions against Russia.

“First of all, we will do everything we can to ensure compliance with the sanctions. We have no interest, none, zero, in enabling any Russian oligarch or anyone who's part of the sanctions list. We have no interest, as a country, in protecting anybody in that regard, let us be crystal clear in that,” he said.

Mr Martin told the Dáil Putin had “fundamentally altered” the multilateral rules-based order since the end of the Cold War.

“No one in this House or anywhere else should be under any illusions about the seriousness of the situation that Europe and the world faces right now this afternoon,” Mr Martin said.

“Vladimir Putin, a bully and a thug, has unleashed an unprovoked and unjustifiable war on the people of Ukraine, committing war crimes in the process — as we are witnessing.

“As [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy said, most movingly to the European Parliament this morning, every day now in Ukraine is someone’s last day.

“I was very struck by both the contribution he made there and indeed to the European heads of state last Thursday at the EU council.” 

He added: “The biggest challenge facing us as a country, I believe, is that we must be very, very generous in terms of the refugee crisis that will undoubtedly flow as a result of this war.

“It will be beyond anything that we’ve comprehended before. I’ve said to my colleagues in Government and to the departments: we must put to one side what we might have considered to be the norms in terms of responding in a humanitarian way to the plight of the Ukrainian people.

In terms of issuing visa waivers for Ukrainian citizens, he said, the Cabinet on Tuesday morning went further in the European Union in allowing displaced people to come to Ireland.

He said EU justice and home affairs ministers will meet on Thursday in Brussels to ratify this. 

Asked by Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald and Social Democrats leader Catherine Martin about what Putin has done, Mr Martin said: “I agree with the sentiments expressed by the deputy in relation to the appalling attack and war being raged against Ukrainian people by Vladimir Putin and the Russian leadership.

“And I have no doubt that the vast majority of Russian people do not support this war,” he said.

Mr Martin also addressed "the diplomatic issue" stating: “First of all, anything we do I believe should be in concert with our European partners. I think European strength and support unity of purpose is very important here,” he said.

Ms Murphy cited examples of Russian companies being able to use the IFSC in Dublin as a means to avoid sanctions and operate a scheme of accessing money and called on the Government to clamp down on that.

Separately, Mr Martin responded to a question from Right to Change TD Joan Collins, who raised the recent unfair dismissal case of workers in a Dublin restaurant over the withholding of tips by the company.

Mr Martin said tips were essentially being retained or kept used as part of wages is absolutely unacceptable. “That's reprehensible and wrong, if that was what transpired here.” 

He said there should be full and absolute transparency governing the issue of tips. He said many people are under the impression that tips go to workers but they don’t.