Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes, flails. So do we purchase them to donate? One of the issues for Ukraine is the industry is at saturation point in terms of provision of weaponry and so on. There is no point in everyone going in and purchasing to give. They should be in the position to purchase whatever is coming off the manufacturing lines. But we have helped in training. De-mining will be, and is, the biggest issue in conflict zones for civilian populations afterwards, at the Deputy knows. As mines have the capacity to kill people, to amputate and maim, I am anxious we do everything we can on the de-mining front. We have joined the Lithuanian de-mining coalition in Ukraine to work with other countries to see what we can do to help on the de-mining agenda.

On forfeiture, the Chair may be aware the EU has achieved political agreement to use the revenue generated from immobilised Russian assets to fund reconstruction in Ukraine. The interest that has been earned to date is a significant start, at least, to use that revenue to start funding reconstruction in Ukraine. I favour the whole general idea. There is concern in the European Central Bank about potential currency destabilisation if we were to go down the route of forfeiture. I am not convinced of that at all. I think Russia must be held to account for its invasion. It is a brutal invasion. We cannot have countries invading other countries just because they are the bigger neighbour. That is no way in the multilateral world that we should be proceeding. This is being actively examined. Various European institutions, including the ECB, are involved. One of the breakthroughs has been that the interest that has been accruing on those assets is now going to be used to help the reconstruction.