Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the briefing, particularly on Ukraine. I recall he gave an interview, I think it was on the "Today with Claire Byrne" radio show one morning prior to the invasion and he was very downbeat and gloomy. He had just come form various meetings throughout the European Union. It was a chilling interview. I do not think many of us realised that this was about to happen. Certainly the sense the Minister of State got was that it was about to happen and all this came to pass.

On the strategic compass, which was agreed at the European Council meeting, obviously the French Presidency was very anxious to finalise this in the context of recent developments, including the position in Afghanistan, whereby the European Union could not get its citizens out of there following the US withdrawal of its troops, and cyber-attacks, which we discussed this morning. I agree with the strategic compass and the moves by the European Union in regard to these matters. Specifically on the rapid reaction force, what is Ireland's view of that? Are we likely to participate in it? If we do, will we participate on our own terms whereby we could have an opt-in and an opt-out. I would be interested to hear the Minister of State’s thinking on that as this matter evolves.

My second question is on Ukraine's application for EU membership. I agree that Ireland, in principle, supports enlargement and I agree with the Irish stance on Ukraine. The Commission has been asked to report or to give an assessment on it. When is that likely to be finalised? When is the European Council likely to consider this further? How urgent is that from the Commission’s point of view.? There is opposition within the European Union by certain member states to Ukraine’s membership. I know the Minister of State has to be diplomatic but what is his understanding of the opposition to it. I guess it is not talked about out loud. Is it to do with the Balkan states and queue jumping, whereby states that have been in the queue for a long time feel they may be pushed down the list if Ukraine is fast-tracked or is it more to do with the strategic interests of various countries? Insofar as he can, will the Minister of State outline what the opposition is to that or what the problems may be with regard to Ukraine’s membership and getting agreement on it at the European Council and the European Parliament?

My next question is on sanctions. The Minister of Sate said that Ireland supports energy being included in the sanctions. There is a huge dependence by the European Union on imports of Russian oil, gas and coal. I note there has been decisions made to decrease this dependence over the coming years from a strategic point of view. How likely is it that energy will be included, or is it a question of decreasing our dependence and then including energy in the sanctions? I would be interested to hear the Minister of State’s thinking on that. Presumably there is fierce opposition again from certain member states to inlucidng energy. Does the Minister of State think that is likely in the short or even the medium term?

I have a final question on the peace talks being chaired by Turkey, about which we heard a good deal on the news last night. In the context of his experience on these matters, can we be hopeful about these peace talks and the various proposals put forward by Russia and Ukraine because that is the solution to all of this, to bring the war to an end. Given the Minister of State’s experience, does he think these peace talks being chaired by Turkey have a chance of succeeding?