Taoiseach Simon Harris has said that Ukrainians who have fled the war with Russia to live in Ireland “are welcome here as long as it takes”.
Mr Harris made his comments after holding a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy at Shannon Airport at lunchtime on Saturday.
At the brief stop off en route to Ukraine after attending a Nato summit in Washington, Mr Zelenskiy brushed off US president Joe Biden’s Putin gaffe at the final press conference of the summit.
Mr Biden made headlines around the world on Thursday after appearing to confuse Mr Zelenskiy with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
When arriving at Shannon just after midday, Mr Zelenskiy briefly spoke to reporters before his meeting with Mr Harris.
Asked what was his reaction to Mr Biden calling him “president Putin” by mistake, Mr Zelenskiy 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.”
Before the meeting, Mr Zelenskiy signed the visitor’s book at Shannon Airport and posed for photographs with Mr Harris.
Asked what was his message to the people of Ireland, Mr Zelenskiy 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 meeting, Mr Harris confirmed that he has accepted an official invitation to visit Kyiv and Ukraine as Taoiseach and hopes to make the visit “in the coming weeks”. He also officially invited Mr Zelenskiy to Ireland.
Mr Harris told reporters: “I’ve just had a very good meeting with president [Volodymyr] Zelenskiy. I’m very pleased to welcome him to Ireland.”
He added: “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 Mr Zelenskiy told him his government has a bomb shelter programme in place 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,” Mr Harris said. “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 Mr Zelenskiy “has a real awareness and knowledge of how many people from Ukraine have been welcomed here”.
He said that Mr Zelenskiy “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 have come to live in the State since the outbreak of the war.
Asked did Mr Zelenskiy express any concern over the Government recently reducing support payments to Ukrainians living here, Mr Harris said that the issue did not 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,” Mr Harris said.
He added: “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.
“I think by any fair, objective view, the changes we have made very much keep Ireland in line with best practice in other European countries.”
Mr Harris said that everyone wants to get to situation where the war ends and the people of Ukraine can return home. “The people of Ukraine are welcome here as long as it takes.”
He added: “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.”
Mr Harris would not be drawn on whether Mr Biden should remain in the US presidential race simply stating that “it is absolutely not my place to give a view who should be the next president of the US or anything about the election”.
However, he said that he had “a great fondness” for Mr Biden and spoke with him by phone recently.
Mr Harris said that the two covered a range of international topics during their phone conversation.
“Throughout that conversation I found president [Joe] Biden to be as engaging, as informed and as passionate, about Ireland I must say, as I have ever found him to be,” Mr Harris said.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis
