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People Before Profit have defended their decision not to applaud following the Ukrainian presidential address to the houses of the Oireachtas.
Video footage from the Dáil chamber shows that Paul Murphy and Richard Boyd Barrett stood, but did not applaud, following the address by president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who had thanked Ireland for supporting sanctions against Russia and asked Ireland to try to convince other EU countries to introduce more rigid sanctions against Russia.
People Before Profit-Solidarity TDs Gino Kenny and Bríd Smith also stood, but did not applaud.
Mr Murphy told The Irish Times that he and Mr Barrett had “stood for the people of Ukraine and stand with them in the struggle against the Russian imperialist invasion”.
However, he explained: “We can’t applaud calls for more sanctions which are hurting ordinary Russians and only bolstering the Putin regime at home.” Mr Murphy also criticised steps taken by Mr Zelenskiy’s government in domestic politics.
“It’s worrying that the Zelenskiy government has banned opposition parties with almost 20 per cent of the vote in Ukraine. That’s not because we support those parties but because it’s a worrying attack on democratic rights which undermines the struggle against the invasion.”
Mr Murphy said that he and Mr Barrett had also not applauded Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s declaration of support for Ukrainian membership of the EU.
He said EU membership was a matter for the Ukrainian people and if they wanted to join, his party would not be in favour of blocking them.
“But it’s no secret that we aren’t fans of the undemocratic nature of the EU, its neo-liberal policies and the current drive to militarisation”.
TD Bríd Smith said: “We Stood in solidarity and respect for Ukrainian people and for their president; and the war crimes they are suffering at the hands of Putin but we disagree with calls he made previously for Nato involvement which we think would escalate an already dangerous situation and the call for further sanctions which we fear will weaken the opposition to Putin in Russia. Also concerned about decision to ban opposition parties in Ukraine.”
During the speeches, several Government TDs also applauded Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald’s call to eject the Russian ambassador, Yuriy Filatov. Fianna Fáil TDs Niamh Smyth, John Lahart, John McGuinness Pádraig O’Sullivan and Paul McAuliffe applauded the call, as did Fine Gael’s Brendan Griffin, the deputy Government chief whip.