John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the ambassadors. I commend Romania and Moldova on the hospitality shown to me and my colleagues on our recent visit and the expertise, openness and honesty shown by all the organisations, individuals and politicians we met. We had very frank conversations. It is a visit that will stay in my heart forever. It is one thing to watch the news and see the horror unfolding in Europe but it is a completely different experience to see a mother and her two or three children come across the border at Palanca or Siret carrying a plastic bag and crying her eyes out, not knowing where she was going or what the future holds, when she may go home or whether she will see her husband ever again. That is something that will stay with me forever.

I had another very striking engagement in the refugee centre in Chiinu when I met a woman who, I think, had two children. She had spoken to her husband the previous evening. He is on the front line in Ukraine defending his country. She had not heard from him since. As she was speaking to him, missiles were falling around him. It was very real and horrific. I can only imagine the trauma those people are experiencing. I commend the hospitality that both countries have shown to the refugees who are fleeing for their lives with only a few valued possessions.

We engaged with many organisations in Romania and Moldova. As Deputy Howlin said, the openness from everyone we met was striking. I will deal with the two countries separately. Moldova is a country that has very little in the way of finance and is extremely poor but it was very apparent that the warmth and generosity shown to the refugees have been striking. Over 425,000 people have crossed into Moldova, of whom about 100,000 have decided to stay there given its proximity to Odessa and the southern part of Ukraine, which, unfortunately, is coming under more and more pressure. As the ambassador said, the bridge that was struck yesterday just below Palanca was struck again this morning to ensure it was completely destroyed.

In recent days we have also seen potential false flag operations in Transnistria. I refer to the destruction of two telecommunication towers. There were reports this morning that there was an attack or attempted attack on the largest weapons depot in Europe, which holds more than 20,000 tonnes of Soviet air ammunition. There are reports that there may have been an attack on it this morning. To my mind, these are all potentially false flag operations because Russia has stated that to try to stabilise the situation in Transnistria, it may not stand idly by. To my mind, that means there is potential for Russia to open up that land connection from Mariupol right across through Odessa and into Transnistria. The concerns that generates are significant.

I was struck by a genuine and simple request from all those we met in Moldova in respect of the need for hard cash. It is striking that in her opening statement H.E. Mrs. Miculet welcomed the €1 million that has come from Ireland in humanitarian assistance. That is a drop in the ocean. I think it was Senator Doherty who stated in our engagement in Moldova that the amount is actually an embarrassment. I agree that it is an embarrassment. In the context of dealing with the poorest country in Europe, for €1 million to be given in humanitarian assistance is pitiful and an embarrassment. I repeat my calls in that regard. I think all representatives of the committee were speaking in unison on this issue while we were in Moldova, stating that this needs to be addressed immediately. There needs to be a substantial amount of money from Ireland and the EU to Moldova to help with the humanitarian crisis and the fantastic response that has been made. That monetary assistance needs to be forthcoming.

Some of the NGOs we met, including Plan International, expressed concerns in respect of vulnerable people, including unaccompanied minors, crossing the borders and the potential for trafficking. That concern was expressed by some of the organisations there. Unfortunately, it is a reality. It is happening. There have been reports of it taking place. This issue needs to be addressed, given the volume of refugees coming over the border. The organisations stated that proper vetting of people dropping off goods or collecting refugees at border points needs to be put in place in order to ensure the potential for trafficking is completely eliminated. The organisations stated that there is massive goodwill coming from Ireland and right across Europe but their appeal to members of the public who wish or need to do something is for them not to go directly to border crossing points because that adds complications in terms of trying to avoid the potential for trafficking or the picking up of unaccompanied minors by people who should not be there. Trafficking is a threat. It is a matter that needs to be considered and stricter and more rigid procedures must be put in place.

As regards the 500 refugees Ireland has agreed to take in, I will follow up on the point made by Deputy Howlin. It was a concern while we were in Moldova that although the announcement that Ireland will take in 500 refugees is welcome, it seemed to come from nowhere. The figure was not based on anything in particular. Have those 500 refugees now landed in Ireland? It was a concern when we were in Moldova that the announcement was made but there was no movement on it. H.E. Mrs. Miculet may be able to update the committee in that regard. I am also concerned that her request to meet the Minister for Justice has not been responded to. This may be a matter on which the committee can follow up. Given everything we have stated and seen in the context of the crisis that is unfolding and the additional pressures on Moldova, that request should be acted upon immediately. The committee needs to follow up on that because it is concerning that the request has not been responded to, let alone the meeting granted.

As regards Romania, its openness, honesty, expertise and commitment to deal with the situation are second to none. Everyone we met was so open and excellent. We visited a refugee centre in Bucharest. There is a fantastic operation in place there. The level of volunteers not just in Moldova but also in Romania was stark. There were schoolchildren going straight to the refugee centres at the end of their school day in order to help out. It was striking. A matter that struck me in the context of our engagements in Romania was the significant costs. We were told it had cost between €500 million and €600 million up to that point. I am sure that figure has been exceeded at this stage. Like in the case of Moldova, very little assistance, if any, has been forthcoming from the EU. Indeed, we were told there were no additional funds or money coming from the EU and that Romania had been told it had to use up its existing cohesion funding before a request for funding could be considered. That is really concerning. Billions of euro are being pumped into providing weapons for Ukraine, and those weapons are needed, obviously, but we do not see a parallel level of funding going to help deal with the humanitarian crisis that, unfortunately, is evolving as a result of the war. That seriously needs to be looked at because more than 777,000 refugees have crossed over into Romania to date. I refer to the additional infrastructure in terms of road services and everything that will be needed to cater for that massive increase in population. Existing cohesion funding is now being sidetracked to deal with the crisis. This is a serious issue that needs to be immediately addressed by the EU. That will be borne out in our report.

This morning, we saw that Russia cut off the gas supply to Poland and Bulgaria. In Moldova, it was striking how dependent the country is on that gas for the production of electricity. We were told the gas supply is being provided free to Transnistria but the bill had been passed on to Moldova. Are there serious concerns now that the gas supply to Moldova may be cut? It was striking that Moldova is very dependent on that supply. Is Dr. tefan concerned that the supply to Romania may be cut off? What contingencies have been put in place? How dependent is Romania on that supply?

This has been a very useful engagement. I have probably left a lot out in terms of my questions. It will probably take me a while to analyse it. I am still analysing some of our engagement but it was a very useful trip and there are many things that will stick with me. I know I have related a couple of stories already.

There was another young man in Moldova as well, who was 17 and just missed the military age in Ukraine. He and his mam managed to bring their dog with them. He was sitting on a bus heading to Spain. They barely had a word of English, let alone a word of Spanish. They did not know where they were going or what the future held for them. It is very striking when we hear figures, statistics and of horrors and we should remember we are dealing with real humans whose lives have been turned upside down. We do not know what the future holds for them. There is a massive humanitarian crisis in the region that this horrific war has generated. The response from the international community, including the EU and Ireland, is lacking to say the least. It must be addressed.