Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

Did the Taoiseach raise with Boris Johnson the question of debt cancellation for Ukraine? The UK holds 4% of voting rights at the International Monetary Fund, IMF, which is the biggest holder of Ukrainian debt. It is due to pay over €2.5 billion this year, which is equivalent to 16.5 million average pension payments in Ukraine. In exchange for this money, the IMF imposed conditionalities on Ukraine, including liberalisation and promotion of foreign trade, the removal of price controls on essential commodities, the reduction of subsidies on essential goods, cutbacks in public services and the privatisation of state-owned enterprises. People understand what IMF programmes do. They are not in the interests of ordinary people. The indebtedness of Ukraine is a consequence of the oligarchisation of Ukrainian society and the failure to tax the rich.

It is odious debt; it is not the debt of the people. It is a huge burden on the ordinary people of Ukraine in terms of the conflict with Russia and the attempt to repel the invasion but also in the context of rebuilding of the country. This is why there is a demand from social movements in Ukraine and from the largest trade union there for the cancellation of the debt. When I asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, about the matter, I received quite an incredible response to the effect that "debt forgiveness by the IMF risks impairing the Fund's financial integrity". Will somebody please think of the IMF's financial integrity and that fact that it is going to be in some way undermined by taking the absolutely necessary step of cancelling Ukraine's debt?

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