H.E. Ms Larysa Gerasko:

I will answer the first question regarding the situation in the west of Ukraine and what the embassy is doing. There is no safe place in Ukraine. Russia has dropped bombs many times in places not far from Lviv, near the Hungarian border and in Ivano-Frankivsk. It has attacked many objects of infrastructure in the western part of Ukraine. Most of our Ukrainian internally displaced people have moved to central and western parts of Ukraine. It is a challenge for the western parts of Ukraine because they are less populated and the people here face challenges with accommodation.

It is safer there than in the north or the east.

We receive a huge number of letters, calls and visits from our Ukrainian citizens in the embassy, so our consul literally works 24-7. Our citizens need consular assistance in order to obtain a new passport, to get translations or other documents, etc. We provide consultations in order to better explain the Irish rules to our Ukrainians. We do everything.

I have not had any engagement with the UK. I do not know the situation with regard to the movement of Ukrainian displaced people or refugees. Due to privacy law, it is hard to get the number of Ukrainians living in County Kerry or in other counties. We do not have any information on how many people have moved illegally to Northern Ireland. My colleague, the Ukrainian ambassador in the UK, does not have the number. We are not engaged in this process.

I am very well informed about the situation regarding tension between some of our Ukrainian citizens. I know about some incidents in counties Cavan, Kerry and Dublin. I am in contact with the representative of the Department of Justice and we discuss on a case-by-case basis how our Ukrainian nationals can get protection here if they travel from Russia or other non-EU countries and not from Ukraine. We have some examples of even sexual abuse and of many other situations. Unfortunately, our women are sometimes fearful of calling the Garda. There is, however, a small number of such incidents.

With regard to medical supplies, we need medicine and medical kits. The ministry for health in Ukraine updates a list weekly of what we need in order to save the lives of our civilians and our military.

With regard to Deputy Berry's question, I know about the fundraising in Lithuania where $5 million was collected to buy a Bayraktar. It was amazing. As far as I know, Irish legislation permits you to collect money for humanitarian aid if you have a charity account. The question is whether a humanitarian aid or not. I do not know.