Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the ambassador. Once again, we will stay in touch. We can learn from each other. If it is possible, I ask him to send on information on how his department of education is working towards identifying Ukrainian teachers. Marino College, in Deputy Haughey's constituency, has a very good migrant teacher programme which it has been working on for years. It is looking to expand that. Any information that the ambassador could give us in terms of identifying Ukrainian teachers might be of help to us.

I again thank him. As a committee, we want to keep this issue very much on the agenda. History is repeating itself, unfortunately. I remember reading Dynamo, a football book set against the backdrop of 1942 when Operation Barbarossa was very much part of Kyiv. At the time I read it, I thought all of this was behind us and would never happen again. Reality bites, and it has bitten really hard this time.

It is important for us as a country that is part of the European Union to not just show solidarity but to keep this issue very live on the agenda. We will stay in touch with the ambassadors of individual countries along the eastern Baltic. We had a great five-hour meeting last week. We do not want to dip in and out of this issue; we want to have continuity because this is an important juncture in the history of the world. We stand in solidarity with the Ukrainians. We look forward to further engagement.

I thank the ambassador for his honesty and openness, and his diplomatic skills with some of the questions. We certainly cannot predict the future and we are grateful for his contribution today.