Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The ambassador and her team are more than welcome. I thank them for a most comprehensive report. I will begin with a positive and take time to congratulate Ukraine on its ability to develop a mobile phone application that allows its citizens to engage with Government and Government services in the middle of a war. It is an incredible feat of bravery and tenacity by the ambassador's people and I wanted to put that on record. Amidst all the bad things that are going on, Ukraine is still performing as a normal country, or as close as it can to normality at any rate.

The Georgian ambassador has been referenced. It is fair to say this war started in 2008 with the first Russian probe into a country occurred in Georgia. We in the Western world took our eyes off what was happening. I am thankful that has not happened in the case of Ukraine. We talk about Ireland's support for Ukraine. There is no question whatsoever about it. We have supported Ukrainian refugees and provided what goods and services we could provide. However, my colleague in the Dáil, Deputy Berry, and I have said we should provide what weapons we can. Are our guests able to differentiate between what might be regarded as offensive weapons and what might be regarded as defensive weapons?

It has always been our view that we should provide Ukraine with the tools we can to prevent missiles landing in built-up areas or to take down aircraft causing a threat to built-up areas.

Up to now, the air war has been fairly limited. Is Ms Gerasko concerned that an air war is coming? Is that why Ukraine is asking for fighter jets from the western world? I know our friends and neighbours in the UK have provided Ukraine with training in fighter jets. I am not sure that any fighter jets have been made available to Ukraine yet. Maybe for security reasons, Ms Gerasko does not want to comment on that. However, she might let us know the demand Ukraine has and where matters stand in that regard.

It has often been said that Ukraine has been fighting the war of the West and fighting it on its own.. What is Ms Gerasko's view on that? Is it very much a case of the West supplying Ukraine with everything but that the West will not fight for it? Ukraine is very much on its own when it comes to that. The supplying of tanks, arms and ammunition is all great and Ukraine needs it. However, no country is offering to stand four-square behind Ukraine militarily. Do Ukrainians feel bad about that? Does it make them feel somewhat lonely?

On a positive note, I note Putin's speech offered very little to the oligarchs who are suffering from sanctions. He points out that this is just tough luck and that all Russians are in this together. I wonder if that will be his downfall. Does Ms Gerasko have any opinion on how the oligarchs may ultimately decide where Russia goes?

We are about to decommission some naval vessels. My colleague Deputy Berry and I have often said that to allow the Ukrainian navy to maintain naval skills, it could make use of those ships somewhere in the Mediterranean or Atlantic where it would just keep skills and skill sets up to speed so that when things revert back to normal, its navy is ready to come straight back into work.

While there has been massive support for refugees coming to Ireland, a few situations have come to my attention regarding the provision of food and heat in some hotels. I have seen at first hand food distributed in polystyrene dishes with plastic cutlery. I have seen heat switched off in hotels except for two hours in the morning and two hours late at night. I have written to the hotels where that has happened and I believe there has been some change. Are any reports like that coming back to the Ukrainian Embassy? Our Government has put our money into making sure that those who come into the country have a safe and warm place where they can be well-fed and as comfortable as they possibly can be. If people are profiteering on that, we need to know about it.