TAOISEACH Simon Harris said today (Saturday) that Ukrainians fleeing the war with Russia “are welcome here as long as it takes”.
Mr Harris made his comments after holding a bi-lateral meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Shannon Airport at lunchtime on Saturday.
The Taoiseach and the Ukrainian President embraced as Mr Zelenskyy set foot on Irish soil.
At the brief stop off en route to Ukraine after attending a NATO summit in Washington, President Zelensky brushed off President Joe Biden’s ‘Putin gaffe’ at the final press conference of the NATO summit.
Asked by reporters in Shannon what was his reaction to President Joe Biden calling him President Putin by mistake, President Zelensky said: “It’s a mistake. I think the United States gave a lot of support for Ukrainians. We can forget some mistakes, I think so.”
Prior to the meeting, President Zelenskyy signed the visitor’s book at Shannon Airport and posed for photographs with Taoiseach Simon Harris.
Asked what was his message to the people of Ireland, President Zelenskyy said: “First of all, thank you so much for your support, thanks to Ireland for hosting a lot of Ukrainian refugees, you were with us from the very beginning of the Russian invasion.”
At the press briefing which followed the bi-lateral, Mr Harris confirmed that he has accepted an official invitation to visit Kyiv and hopes to make the the visit “in the coming weeks”
Mr Harris told reporters: “I’ve just had a very good meeting with President Zelenskyy. I’m very pleased to welcome him to Ireland.”
“It gave me an opportunity to express the condolences of the people of Ireland to the people of Ukraine to the President of Ukraine for the loss of life during this brutal and illegal war of Russian aggression.”
Mr Harris said that he was very taken by the fact that President Zelenskyy told him his Government has a bomb shelter programme in place in order to prepare for the start of the Ukrainian school year in September.
Mr Harris said that he was “absolutely horrified” by Russia abducting Ukrainian children.
“I don’t believe the world knows enough about this. Russia is actively stealing children from Ukraine – it is taking young babies and children from the clutches of their parents and it is bringing them to temporary occupied territories or to Russia.”
Mr Harris said that President Zelenskyy “has a real awareness and knowledge of how many people from Ukraine have been welcomed here”.
He said that President Zelenskyy “acknowledged the support and generosity of the Irish people and Irish government in terms of assisting people from Ukraine”.
More than 108,000 Ukrainian refugees come to live in the State since the outbreak of the war, with Limerick City alone welcoming around 2,500.
Asked did President Zelenskyy express any concern over the government recently reducing support payments to Ukrainians living here, Mr Harris said that the issue didn’t come up.
“Had it come up, I would have simply made the point that it is very important that we move from an emergency response to a more sustainable model,” he said.
“We have made the changes we have made because we want to be in a position to continue to support those who need our support for as long as it takes.”
Mr Harris said that everyone wants to get to a situation where the war ends and the people of Ukraine can return home, adding that “the people of Ukraine are welcome here as long as it takes.”
“We want Ukraine to be a member of the EU and, should that happen, people from Ukraine would have the same freedom of movement that every other EU citizen has too.”
