Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his questions. I will answer them in reverse order. The Deputy is correct that we have given support to agencies that are working in Moldova. There is a genuine interest from the Government in helping Moldova more generally. There is comprehensive support from Government. Before Christmas, I met the Moldovan Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Nicu Popescu. It was just a general "get-to-know-you" session. Moldova has a very new, pro-European government. As the Deputy said, they need practical help and also signals that we are with them. Moldova is experiencing a very difficult economic situation. Incredible support for Moldova has been provided through the EU. We will continue to provide support. The support that has been provided has been initial support. Moldova has been landed with a crisis that is much greater than ours in dealing with the Ukrainian people who are there. We have given significant support to agencies on the ground there that are doing work. That is within the decision that has been taken. We are absolutely open to directly helping the Moldovan Government. There is no question about that. I have made a commitment to the Moldovan Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration and I have discussed it with the Taoiseach as well. He is very interested in giving much more support to Moldova and in sending that signal. We are very cognisant of the Moldovan community in Ireland, which is of great benefit to Ireland. Many young working people have left Moldova. We need to help Moldova as much as we can, and we are very interested in doing that. There are many issues, not least the fact that there is a presence of Russian troops in part of the country, which is very difficult. We are cognisant of that. Indeed, I had a meeting in December with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, representative for Transnistria.

On the Deputy's question on diplomats, there are 19 Russian diplomats and 11 administrators in Ireland. Four from that pool have been told to leave. There are not 29 diplomats, as such. I remind him that we brought in special planning legislation in the past year or two to directly ensure that the Russian embassy could not proceed with the planning for a particularly large building that it had planned on the site for national security reasons. A diplomat was also expelled in 2018. To be fair to the Government, the Russian embassy has been clearly on our radar over the past number of years. This is not the first expulsion. We had to bring in special planning legislation. The embassy is very much on our radar. In this particular case, an assessment has been made that the four people who are being expelled are not doing the work of diplomacy. They are doing other work and they cannot remain in the country. That is the assessment. There is no doubt that this issue will continue to be looked at on an ongoing basis.

We have six people in Moscow in total. That is a very small embassy for us. Those people are doing essential work in difficult circumstances.

There is no doubt that sanctions are having a significant impact. The sanctions target the Russian financial, energy, technology, defence and transport sectors. We have seen a significant reduction in manufacturing capacity in Russia because of that. Let us not forget that sanctions have also been introduced in Belarus. It is also important to remember that the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, which are occupied by Russia, have also been subject to sanctions. They have also been suffering because of this. The media has also been suffering. It is fair to say that it is not clear that the sanctions have resulted in a major shift in Russian actions. We have seen that. However, the economic impact has been dramatic. We have seen the Russian rouble fluctuate. There is no doubt that the continuing purchase of natural gas and oil is having an impact there, because they are not sanctioned.

Inflation in Russia, however, is at a high level and that is starting to have a major impact. Unfortunately, it is affecting food prices and availability for ordinary people in Russia and that is Putin's fault. The closure of EU airspace has had a dramatic effect. People who even want to fly from Russia and Belarus to Kaliningrad, which is a Russian exclave, find it difficult. It is hard to get to because they cannot fly over Lithuania, for example. The Russian elite has also been badly impacted and we have seen some of them crying tears on television because of the unavailability of cleaners and other servants they are used to having, but they will just have to get used to this situation. They will have to try to put pressure on, and continue to put pressure on, Putin to end this war.

Overall, the sanctions are having a major impact on Russia. They will of course have an impact on us as well. Nothing done in the context of Putin's actions will be cost free. Discussions are taking place at the EU level regarding how to mitigate the effects on us. Whatever the impact is on us, however, it is nothing like the cost being borne by the Ukrainian people. The reason for these measures must never be forgotten: they exist because of Putin's war on Ukraine. The war is having so many negative effects that it must end, and these sanctions are the weapon of choice of the EU and the western world. We seek not to escalate things militarily, but to put as much economic pressure on Russia as is possible.