How will rousing Dáil speeches help Ukraine and five-year-old Anastasiia?

Poets and international statesmen were quoted as TDs spoke after the videolink speech by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the Dáil — but divisions remain on what Ireland should be doing to help.

Ukrainian ambassador to Ireland Larysa Gerasko; Anastasiia Semonova, 5, daughter of Yana Semenova; and Taoiseach Micheál Martin at Leinster House after the address by Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Picture: Maxwells

The image of little Anastasiia Semenova receiving a round of applause from a packed Dáil chamber was a poignant moment.

It came at the end of a political debate following an historic address by her president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to the Joint Houses of the Oireachtas.