Mr. Gerald Angley:

The legislation will do a number of things. It will effectively authorise the Minister for Finance to make money available from the Central Fund for the two EU macrofinancial assistance programmes for 2022 and 2023. Their financing architecture changed from year to year. The potential Irish exposure in 2022 in the event of Ukraine defaulting had to do with providing some support towards a guarantee for loans to Ukraine and was capped at approximately €76 million, although Ms Ryan might correct me on that amount. In 2023, the financial architecture of the assistance to Ukraine changed a little, with member states now supporting the interest payments on the loans. In our case, the maximum exposure is approximately €67 million. This is all made explicit in the legislation. Those are the EU supports that the legislation, if passed, will empower the Minister to sign himself into and to join other member states in doing so.