Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The ambassador's pronunciation was fine, and probably better than mine at times, but we will not get into that now. The ambassador is very welcome. I see that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met with President Zelenskyy lately and I ask the ambassador to give us some details regarding that meeting. It is fair to say that Viktor Orbán and the Hungarian regime are seen as being very pro-Vladimir Putin. I would like to get the ambassador's view in relation to Putin. I will be honest and say that my view is that he is an old-style Russian imperialist, no different from many who have gone before him. While we need to see, at some stage, some element of a peace process, and we all want to see this, it is the case, as the adage states, that it takes at least two to tango.

There has been a long history of Hungary being at loggerheads with the European Union around rule-of-law issues. This covers everything. We could be talking about civil society groups, Viktor Orbán's battle with the courts and what people would state explicitly are issues concerning migrant rights and LGBT rights. It was often argued, although this has probably changed recently because of the Ukrainian crisis, that enlargement was to a degree unthinkable in many western European countries based on the rule-of-law issues that exist within several countries, but specifically in Hungary.

Across Ireland and the world, many people will be found who have major issues with what is going on in Gaza, which they see as being a genocidal slaughter. I cannot call Benjamin Netanyahu anything other than two things, a chancer and a genocidal maniac. Hungary's Prime Minister seems to have a very close relationship with him, if the ambassador knows what I mean. At times, the ambassador spoke about fostering peace and whatever. Regarding Ukraine, many in the European Union would disagree with this representation of Hungary's stance and say it is very pro-Putin. The fact is that it cannot be called a particularly pacifistic regime if it supports Benjamin Netanyahu now.

The wider issue of migration - this is being experienced across the board - is one we must all deal with, including here. It is the case that we all need to have our rules and regulations in this regard. I am not always happy with many of the rules and regulations of the European Union. I always think we can do better and do something fairer. We would also say that the western world has not played a particularly helpful role in Africa or the Middle East, and neither has Russia or China. Whatever about the determinations we need to make in regard to our own rules, what would the ambassador propose as being the European Union's answer to dealing with the wider issue of why so many people are travelling to Europe?