Mr. Dermot Ryan:

I have very little to add to what Mr. Angley has said in terms of the source of the funding. My responsibility relates to the background and the purpose of the regulation. The Department of Defence is not involved in the discussions around the budgetary aspects other than the specific instrument itself and the €500 million that was agreed. One has to go back to the genesis of this regulation, which is how the European Union could assist Ukraine in the defence of its territory in the face of illegal aggression from Russia. As the Deputy knows, member states and many other countries outside of the EU have been providing equipment to Ukraine essentially from their own inventories. As I said in my opening statement, that led to a significant reduction in the stocks of member states, both for their own use and for further support for Ukraine. The European Council agreed there should be a three-track approach to supporting Ukraine, of which the ASAP regulation is just one track. The regulation does exactly as I outlined in my opening statement, which is to support the industry in the increased production of weapons and ammunition to replenish member states' stocks, both for their own domestic use and also in providing further support for Ukraine.