Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris said he had no doubt that Irish people wanted to help the people of Ukraine but he warned against falling into a trap being set by Russian president Vladimir Putin who was trying to sow dissent in countries receiving refugees.
Mr Harris said that he believed the vast majority of Irish people wanted to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine but there were a small number with their own agendas who were seeking to exploit legitimate concerns among communities.
“I think fundamentally the people in this country want to do right by Ukraine. I think people in Ireland are resolute in their support of Ukraine because people get it, they get that this is not just a war on Ukraine, but it’s an attack on European values, on freedom, on territorial independence.
“I think they get that it’s really a clash between two very different views of the world - dictatorship versus democracy - and I think Irish people also know what it’s like to have had to leave your homeland as well.
“And I think the people of this country have wanted to be extraordinarily generous and supportive to people from Ukraine since the start of this war, and I think that is still the position of the overwhelming majority of people in this country.”
Mr Harris said there are no easy solutions for Ireland or for other European countries seeking to provide shelter and refuge for millions off Ukrainians fleeing the war in their homeland.
Asked if he was concerned over protest meetings being held in communities such as East Wall in Dublin and Kill, Co Kildare, Mr Harris urged people to be cautious in their commentary.
“There are communities who will want to ask questions, who will want to be consulted, who want to have their views known, have their voices heard. That’s very different to a situation where people would hijack for political advantage a wartime situation.
“So, there is a very big difference between legitimate protest, legitimate questions that people ask and anybody trying to bring in a different motive and it is important to differentiate and I certainly, I certainly would differentiate as well.”
Speaking at the Cork Education and Training Board, Mr Harris said the Government is coming up with solutions whereby people with vacant houses could contact their local authority and receive an increase in the amount of financial support available if they can assist house refugees.
And he said the Government was also looking at ways of achieving a faster roll out of temporary accommodation for Ukrainians and said there is now a community fund in place to assist communities supporting large numbers of people into their areas.
“We’ve also got to remember that we don’t fall for ... Putin’s trap because remember this is in my view, an attack on Europe. One can imagine that it’s a key part of Putin’s aim to cause disharmony in Europe.”
“So far since the outbreak of this war I think it’s been remarkable and encouraging, the level of solidarity that has existed across the European Union. We’ve done it in education, where we were all using the Erasmus Plus programme to support Ukrainian students, researchers.
“We have we have acted as one in terms of sanctions. And I think that has been extraordinarily helpful in terms of supporting Ukraine and sending a very clear message to the Putin regime so we need to be very careful here in understanding exactly what’s going on around Putin’s motives here.
“One of his motives is quite clearly to turn the lights off and the electricity in Ukraine as it comes into a freezing cold winter and to cause mass disruption to the people of Ukraine and therefore people fleeing their country.
“It’s very clear which side Ireland will be always on. We’re not neutral in relation to that situation. It is an appalling humanitarian disaster caused by an illegal brutal invasion of a country in Europe.”
