Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for responding. Given the size of the contribution so far and the amount of money for which taxpayers are on the hook and given that, as she said, further contributions through the EIB or other entities could increase our contribution or exposure way beyond €250 million, it is important to tease out with the Minister of State some of the possibilities with regard to this money being called upon. The European Court of Auditors has indicated that the EU's budget's exposure to Ukraine has more than doubled in 2022 compared with the previous year. It went from €7 billion to €16 billion and an additional €18 billion was approved through the macro-financial assistance plus, MFA+, at the end of last year. The court stated this will significantly increase the exposure for future budgets. It continued:

Furthermore, as the additional €18 billion do not require any provisioning, the risk for future EU budgets increases. Any related losses will have to be covered by future EU budgets or by the budgetary ‘headroom’ between the MFF ceiling and the own resources ceiling.

Has the Department done an assessment of the risks and exposures to the EU budget under these programmes outlined by the European Court of Auditors?