Taoiseach Micheal Martin has reiterated there will be no limit to the number of Ukrainian refugees Ireland takes in despite the scramble for accommodation.
He said this is due to the Europe-wide protective measure but acknowledged that it was the largest crisis the country had ever responded to in terms of refugees.
He praised the extraordinary response from the Irish public on assisting people fleeing the war in Ukraine.
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Mr Martin said he believes Vladimir Putin is purposely migration pressure on Europe as a tactic.
He said: "Take, for example, the Russian strategy in the last two days, pretending they were going to pull back and reduce the intensity of the war and actually the opposite happened in terms of the bombing of Kyiv and neighbourhoods around Kyiv.
“There is no doubt, in my view, that is a strategy to target civilians
"Putin wants to create this migrationary flow and migration pressure on Europe. We have to be clear to President Putin that we will not buckle under that."
Responding to concerns about the future of Irish neutrality, Mr Martin said he was against any knee-jerk response on the matter.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Claire Byrne, he said: "The point I would make is over the years we have evolved our security and defence policies. We are part of the European security and defense discussions and policy.
"Just last week the Strategic Compass was approved by the European Council, which is a key pillar of European Union security and defence policy.
"Sometimes people, I think, take the view that military neutrality means that we can't take part in any of that. That is not the case.
"That is why it doesn't make sense to put general provisions into the Constitution which could unintendedly reduce your capacity for manoeuvring into the future."
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