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

There is a difference. For instance, our European colleagues did not authorise or encourage forces from Europe or western countries to enter into Ukraine in official or unofficial uniform. This goes back to the point I raised repeatedly. I acknowledge the ambassador has been genuine in the manner in which he has attempted to respond to the questions but he is looking at it from the opposite perspective. However, in issues of this nature it also is necessary to be able to examine the subject matter from the other side of the argument. For instance, if there are Russian troops in Ukraine, albeit not in official uniform, or from wherever those troops came - we do not know where they came from, but we have seen them on television - who authorised them and what is their business there? Are they supporting the previous administration or do they support something else? Are they awaiting something else? For example, in the case in which an administration must retire or resign, in most other situations one would assume that elections would take place as quickly as possible, that such elections would be free, and, as various speakers have noted, would be monitored and that an attempt would be made to ensure no one abused the system in order to achieve the desired result. I do not suggest for a moment that this is what the ambassador is doing. I fully sympathise with the job the ambassador is doing to answer the questions. However, he should remember that the questions raised are genuine, because there is no vested interest one way or the other. The people who raise the questions here are so doing on the same basis on which they have raised issues on every other conflict situation worldwide in my time in this House. I can assure the ambassador that has been quite a long time.