Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests and thank them for attending. To what extent, if any, was consideration given in 2004 to joining NATO? Was it possible to join NATO at that stage? Most eastern bloc countries at that time made an application to join NATO as a first step before making an application to join the European Union. If that had been done at the time, would it have averted the crisis and Russian invasion?

Many references have been made to the extreme right and extreme left who are involved in street protests. I can understand how people may exploit a situation when there is a breakdown in law and order, as has happened. Notwithstanding that, there were 70 to 100 people killed by snipers in the course of the demonstrations which took place. That was deliberate killing involving the selection of targets, as has been a feature in some areas over the past 100 years. To what extent were those targets selected and what was the background of the people killed? Were they supportive of, or participants in, any particular groups?

Is it accepted that Russian-speaking minorities or majorities have the right to use their language as they see fit? Is it recognised that minorities as well as majorities have a right to democratic processes, including due process, and equality of treatment? I acknowledge that a difficult situation obtains, but it is important from the point of view of neighbours in the European Union that those rights are accepted and exist in fact. No group can be excluded or deemed not to be entitled to democratic procedures.

Yulia Tymoshenko was released. Some of my colleagues do not agree that she was a positive influence, but she was in prison for a number of years, as were others. Some of us believe that prison is not the appropriate place for political opponents. They are entitled to democratic procedures in the normal way. What condition are those prisoners in now who were released?