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

It sounds like the discussion about solidarity with Ukraine took up a fair amount of time during the talks with Prime Minister Rutte. In that context, did the Taoiseach and the Prime Minister speak about the crucial issue of debt relief for Ukraine or are they happy for money to continue to flood out of Ukraine to pay for unsustainable and odious debts? Debt repayments this year amount to €6 billion more than the total education budget of Ukraine. Some €2.5 billion of those repayments is owed to the International Monetary Fund, IMF, alone, which is the biggest holder of Ukrainian debt. The truth is that Ukraine's debt is growing because of the crisis that has arisen as a consequence of the horrendous and brutal Russian invasion of the country. Ukraine's debt has already grown by more than €5 billion this year. Surely then it does not make sense on the one hand to have a Marshall Plan for Ukraine - and we are in favour of investment to help the reconstruction of the country - while on the other hand to continue to say that the odious and illegitimate debts that are the consequence of the oligarchisation of Ukrainian society should continue to be paid. It does not make sense to give with one hand and then to take back with the other. Surely, we need to have immediate debt relief and debt cancellation for the Ukrainian people.

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