Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have a few quick questions and will follow up on some of the points made by my colleagues. Regarding the impact of sanctions, Commissioner McGuinness said some time ago that the sanctions were having a crippling effect and the Russian economy was close to collapse. We saw a 30% fall in the rouble and the protracted closure of the stock exchange. I am interested in the Minister of State's assessment of the real impact. Are the sanctions that have been put in place to date having that type of impact, or was the Commissioner's statement a little bit of hyperbole in terms of talking about the Russian economy being close to collapse without impacting on oil and gas payments?

My second question relates to the issue of the diplomats. For a long time, there were very reliable security briefings for Government regarding the activities of a hugely disproportionate number of diplomats that are in Ireland for a country of our size. I certainly welcome the action that was taken yesterday. The Minister of State talked about it being a proportionate action, almost linked to taking a cross-European expulsion action in respect of Ukraine alone. I am asking a more fundamental question. Is it time, now, that we look at why a country of our size has 33 diplomats registered, given the security information we have that many of them are not complying with the diplomatic requirements under the Vienna Convention? Is it the appropriate time to actually determine that the scale of the embassy representation in Ireland should be proportionate to the genuine expectation of diplomatic relations between our countries?

My final question relates to humanitarian aid. I warmly welcome the explanation that the Minister of State has given for the €20 million of humanitarian relief that has been channelled through the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the World Food Programme. My question is one that I am trying to develop a view on. One of the things we want to do is to signal to countries that look to Europe for support and are being drawn, as it were, into the orbit of Russia, that we want to support the core activities of those governments. I am thinking, in particular, of Moldova, which is very vulnerable. It is surrounded, obviously, by Ukraine. Our humanitarian relief seems to be going through agencies, which is very welcome. However, as far as I am aware, none is going to the Moldovan Government itself, as an act of solidarity with it and a political signal, too. Is it time for us to be also supporting the Moldovan Government directly not only to help in the humanitarian crisis that it is trying to deal with, but also as a political signal?