The Taoiseach said he expected Ukraine’s bid to be a candidate to join the European Union to be endorsed next week by leaders of EU states.
Speaking in the Dáil, Micheál Martin pledged Ireland would support Ukraine in the “complex and challenging” process of joining the EU.
The Taoiseach and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke by phone on Tuesday.
Afterwards, the Ukrainian president posted to social media saying that he had thanked Mr Martin for his support with regard to EU membership and invited the Taoiseach to visit his country.
Mr Martin confirmed Ireland’s support for Ukraine’s EU membership bid and said afterwards: “We are and will be with Ukraine every step of the way”.
The European Commission last week recommended that Ukraine be granted candidate status but this has to be endorsed by EU member states.
Ukraine’s membership application, along with those of Moldova and Georgia, is to be considered at this week’s European Council meeting of EU heads of state and government.
Mr Martin told the Dáil that Ukraine’s bid for EU candidacy was a “historic moment” and added: “If endorsed by the European Council – as I expect that it will – it will place Ukraine on a firm path towards European Union membership, where it belongs.”
He said: “Every sovereign country has a right to determine its own future free from external pressure and duress.
“The people of Ukraine have chosen a future in the European Union and they deserve our full support.
“I’ve long advocated for this outcome and I will be arguing strongly that it be endorsed at our meeting.
“It will provide a great boost to the people and government of Ukraine, who have stood firm in defence of our shared European values in the face of the most appalling Russian war.”
Mr Martin said he hoped candidacy status would “give them heart and courage in the weeks and months ahead” and added: “It is a message that Europe stands with them now, that we will continue to stand with them whatever lies ahead and that we will be with them as they work to rebuild their country.”
He also welcomed the recommendation that Moldova be granted candidate status and that Georgia be offered candidate status “once a number of priorities have been met”.
The Dáil was also given an update on Irish aid to Ukraine.
Ireland has committed to providing €44 million in non-lethal elements of the €2 billion in EU military aid to Ukraine.
Some €20 million in Irish humanitarian aid is being distributed through the United Nations and other partners in Ukraine and neighbouring countries.
Ireland has also provided medical assistance, including ambulances valued at more than €3 million.
Mr Martin said 13 medical evacuations of patients from Ukraine to Ireland had been completed to date. Some were patients requiring ongoing care that had been interrupted by the crisis and others were people wounded in the war.
He said Irish Water had provided two mobile water-treatment plants worth €460,000 to supply 6,200 people in Ukraine with clean water.
