Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

According to the Taoiseach, the Minister of State will give some sort of update in relation to a number of issues including Serbia and Kosovo. At the Committee on European Union Affairs earlier we were dealing with the western Balkans. We know the story, in the sense that the EU was not necessarily serious about accession for a number of years. There was an element of dealing with the rule of law issues and when the house was in order it would look at who it would allow in. The world has significantly changed. Some of the countries in the western Balkans probably felt they did not get a fair hearing. Some of the initial support may have waned across some of the western Balkans in regard to the EU. If people are not provided with a route map they may find other route maps into the future. That is something the European Union and Ireland has to be vociferous in regard to. It is just that we have a decent level of engagement. We see what has happened in regard to Serbia and Kosovo and the Kosovan police officers who were arrested, held and let go. However, that is only one of the many issues if we are talking about what is happening at the minute in the Republika Srpska and across the board. We need to make sure it can reach the criteria required for the European Union and that we show it a route map. We must provide a route map to those looking towards Europe and away from some of the other players that are at play at the moment. Let us be clear, Russia is one of them. We have to make sure that we can show them a European future that is worthwhile and beneficial to all of us.

It goes without saying that everybody in here would utterly condemn the deportation of Ukrainian children to Belarus and to Russia and the madness in regard to the Kakhovka dam. One cannot stand over anything this particular Russian regime has done. We were all watching what was happening in Rostov-on-Don and the road to Moscow. Who would have thought that private military subcontractors could come home to roost and almost bite the hand that previously fed them? That is what happens in oligarchies. We do not know what the future holds. Somebody like Vladimir Putin, when he has been shown to be weak, we do not know what he will do. From our point of view we need to maintain solidarity but beyond that if there is any chance in the near future we have to make sure that emphasis is put on a peace deal that can stop what is absolutely dreadful for those suffering in this war and invasion. However, I do not believe it will come as any shock that many people here will bring up the fact that the EU could do with having a proper conversation, particularly at the EU Council meeting, in relation to other parts of the world where we are seeing apartheid, annexation and absolute, downright murder which we have seen from the Israeli regime as regards Palestine. We need to see fairness across the board.

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