Patrick Murphy: Watch out, we’re keeping an eye on you, Mr Putin.
Posted by Jim on December 6, 2025
THE IRISH NEWS:
Patrick Murphy: Watch out, we’re keeping an eye on you, Mr Putin.
If young Irish men and women die face-down in the Donbas mud, they will know they died to the applause of the main parties in Leinster House.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Taoiseach Micheal Martin shake hands during a press conference at Government Buildings in Dublin
By Patrick Murphy
December 06, 2025 at 6:00am GMT
IN 1899, a Cork newspaper, The Skibbereen Eagle, famously stated in an editorial that it was keeping an eye on the Czar of Russia.
It is not clear if Czar Nicholas II changed Russian foreign policy as a result, but maybe the threat from West Cork made him a bit more cautious.
This week another product of Cork, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, adopted a similar approach to the current Russian leader, when he said during President Zelenskyy’s visit to the Dáil that Russia has to be held accountable.
We are not sure what he meant, but President Putin’s response was to say that if Europe wanted war, Russia was ready to fight. It looks like Russia is now keeping an eye on Ireland.
The Dáil’s main parties rightly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but their standing ovation for Zelenskyy carried just a hint of 1914, when John Redmond argued that it was the “moral duty” of Irishmen to defend “brave little Belgium”.
Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy echoed that sentiment, saying that Ireland “is not morally neutral in the face of atrocity”.
All very morally commendable, but where does Ireland go from here?
It might begin by remembering what Pope Francis said in 2022. He remarked that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine was “perhaps somehow either provoked, or not prevented”.
He said an unnamed but “wise” head of state told him that NATO was “barking at the gates of Russia”.
The man responsible for that barking was honorary Irish nationalist Joe Biden, who was applauded in the Dáil two years ago. (The Dáil enjoys applauding.)
In 2019, Zelenskyy and Putin agreed a ceasefire in the Donbas region over the long-simmering conflict in Crimea.
However, when Biden became president in 2020, he argued for Ukraine to join NATO, which would have meant US missiles on Russia’s border. Putin reacted by illegally invading Ukraine in 2022.
An estimated 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died in an avoidable war for Joe Biden’s flawed foreign policy. No-one in the Dáil mentioned Biden – or Pope Francis.
Donald Trump’s attitude is different from Biden’s. He disowned Ukraine, not because he dislikes violence (as evidenced by his attacks on Venezuela), but because he sees more business opportunities in peace than in war.
By abandoning Ukraine, Trump has sidelined Europe, telling it to stand alone.
The obvious EU response would have been to seek an end to the war by sending Zelenskyy to Moscow to make a deal with Putin.
Rubbish, you say, Putin’s army should be beaten back into Russia and Ukraine should regain all its territory. That’s a fair point, but without US support, how exactly might that be achieved?
Should the EU take America’s place as Ukraine’s arms supplier? That is what NATO is advocating. If so, should Ireland be part of that?
It is heading that way. This weekend Irish Defence Forces are being trained by NATO in cyber-defence.
According to the US-based Defense News, the EU will spend £334 billion on military and related equipment this year. That is one and a half times China’s spend and more than three times Russia’s military budget.
Meanwhile, France and Germany are reintroducing military service, bringing to seven the number of European countries which have reintroduced conscription or military service since 2014.
Europe is gearing up for war, which is why Putin said Russia is ready to fight.
However, is the Ukrainian government worth dying for?
In 2015 the Guardian newspaper described Ukraine as “the most corrupt nation in Europe”. Its energy and justice ministers resigned last month amid allegations of a £76 million embezzlement scheme.
The BBC has referred to corruption in Ukraine as “endemic”. The London Independent claimed that “money for war has been stolen by a group of powerful people”.
Zelenskyy’s chief negotiator with the US resigned last week following an anti-corruption raid on his home.
The war in Ukraine is all over bar the shooting (and fine words in the Dáil).
Ireland’s support for Zelenskyy has aligned it with the EU’s military expansion. So will we see Irish soldiers march off to war, as in 1914, this time morally fighting for a corrupt state, as described in the British media?
The reassuring news is that if young Irish men and women die face-down in the Donbas mud, they will know they died to the applause of the main parties in Leinster House.
The Skibbereen Eagle may have long gone, but the current Irish media might like to keep an eye not only on Russia, but on events in the Dáil.
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