H.E. Ms Larysa Gerasko:

I thank the committee members for expressing words of support and for their real support to our country, people and embassy. The first question was about accommodation for Ukrainians. In my reply, I will also answer all the questions about Ukrainians in Ireland. I will try to answer the many questions that were asked in one block.

More than 70,000 Ukrainians got temporary protection here in Ireland. Unfortunately, we only have statistics for how many Ukrainians have received protection. We do not have statistics for how many Ukrainians have already left Ireland. As far as I know, governmental authorities do not have such statistics. It is impossible for the embassy to count those people.

Accommodation is always a painful issue for Ukrainians and the Irish Government. I am in constant contact with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. Of course, as Deputy Brady said, I address the issue with Ukrainians. The Citywest centre was closed for the Christmas and new year holidays. As of today, all centres are open. Ukrainians are facing the same challenges in respect of accommodation but it is not as tough a situation as it was. Many Ukrainians use the Red Cross and other non-governmental organisations to find accommodation. Those Ukrainians who have got jobs and have started working here prefer to rent accommodation, which is good.

As the committee knows, many Ukrainians live in Citywest and other such centres. A couple of weeks ago, I visited such a centre in Gormanston. The situation is, more or less, good. We hope and expect more Ukrainians to return to Ukraine before summertime, after the winter's cold.

With regard to food and other complaints, we are, of course, in contact with Ukrainians and are receiving many letters, emails, etc. The complaints are mostly from Ukrainians who cannot find a job because they live in rural areas. That is the question I hear most often. Another question I hear relates to access to medical facilities, especially for those who have special medical needs, including people with disabilities and children with special needs. There are also some complaints. People do not complain about the Government or the Department Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. They sometimes complain about specific hotel managers. We are trying to help Ukrainians on a case-by-case basis. We are doing the best we can in co-operation with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. I hope that covers the issue.

The second question related to the peace formula and the draft UN resolution. Hopefully, the resolution will be adopted by the General Assembly on Friday. Our diplomats are still working to get more votes and support from different countries. Ireland is one of the co-sponsors of the resolution, for which we are grateful. I hope that a large number of countries will show support and vote in favour of the resolution. If we are talking about a peace formula, I might refer to the Chinese peace plan.

All of us may have just read in the newspaper about the Chinese plan. China stated that it will present this formula on the one-year anniversary of the whole-scale invasion on 24 February. We will see. It is quite difficult to discuss an unknown plan but I will state that there is no compromise on the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

As I mentioned in my statement, we are not only talking about the territory of Ukraine but we are talking about people. Most of the people in attendance here saw the video of how Ukrainians in liberated Kherson greeted the Ukrainian army. That is the answer. Many people live under Russian occupation and, believe me, they are not happy. All present here, for instance, saw the exhibition which is upstairs, after the liberation of Bucha, and saw the images of liberated Izuum where there was a great cemetery. That was also the case in Mariupol and Kherson with chambers of torture. Just imagine what is going on every single minute with our Ukrainians who remain in the occupied territories.

Accountability is a very important question. I mentioned in my statement that we call on all countries to support the establishment of a special tribunal. One can say that there is the International Criminal Court, ICC, but the scope of crimes is wider than the scope of crimes which could be investigated and prosecuted by the ICC. Today, for instance, the Ukrainian law enforcement agency launched an investigation into 70,000 war crimes and crimes of aggression committed since 24 February. They included the killing of around 10,000 children, the wounding of tens of thousands of civilians and many others. That is why the establishment of the special tribunal is very important. Criminals have to be punished, that is for sure.

Ireland provided finance of over €1 million to the ICC in order to improve the collecting and documenting of this evidence.

On the issue of sanctions, as I mentioned, the imposing of sanctions is very important. Sanctions work very slowly but surely. That is why the adoption of a tougher and stronger package of sanctions is very important because the sanctions should be harmful for the Russian economy. Perhaps the commissioner will add some words of his own on the sanctions.