Vincent P Martin (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

That was a very fruitful, productive session. One of the many benefits Ukraine will realise when it hopefully takes its place in the EU eventually is how we feed in. We had an Irish MEP here. He was elected by Ireland and he comes to our national Parliament. There is joined-up thinking. It was good to see Mr. Barry Andrews, MEP, contribute earlier.

I would like to thank the ambassador for finding the time in a very busy schedule to visit Barretstown in County Kildare recently. We had a large attendance there. It was a place for volunteers on the front line to meet each other and to learn what is and what is not going well, but also a place for displaced Ukrainians fleeing the war to meet each other. The event in Barretstown was a very successful. Barretstown itself is open to all children, including children from Ukraine with serious illnesses. It has really stepped up.

I received a number of representations on the day from the ambassador's proud country people. Two of them took me by surprise. I did not have to respond in writing but there was a bit of an impromptu clinic in Barretstown. Two Ukrainian citizens asked me how they could thank Ireland for doing what it is doing. They said they would really like to get that appreciation across. It was a very touching moment. Ireland, of course, has had its dark periods in the past, including the Great Famine. It is the very least we can do in this awful, horrendous situation.

Most questions have been asked but I had another representation on that and I wonder whether it is materialising yet. I am aware of at least two displaced Ukrainians in County Kildare who are so grateful for the welcome they got. They will forever remember Ireland but despite the warmth of the welcome, they have decided to go home to the western part of their country because they are absolutely heartbroken being wrenched from their homeland. Is that happening yet? Does the ambassador have any information on traffic going back? I emphasise that these people love Ireland but they have made plans to return to the western part of Ukraine. Were they isolated incidents or is happening more generally?