Professor Gavin Barrett:

-----to the eastern part of the European Union. Türkiye raised similar issues until it effectively removed itself from the enlargement agenda. Is this taking on too much? Is incorporating Ukraine taking on too much? My answer is that I do not know. Perhaps the answer to that particular question is that it might be another case of the worst possible solution except for all of the others. If the EU does not take on Ukraine, it will be sucked back into the Russian sphere of influence, with all that would entail.

Returning to the concept of all the issues being interlinked, to the extent that it has generated considerable rule-of-law issues, the existing enlargement has not worked, or has, at least, given problems that we need to solve. We probably need to solve them before we expand the European Union. The question the Cathaoirleach has raised about Ukraine is legitimate and I do not have the answer to it.