Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I bid good afternoon to the Minister of State, and I thank the Taoiseach for his opening statement. I will start on the pack of cards and the Russian announcement in the past couple of hours of the sanctioning of and declaring as personae non gratae 52 Irish politicians. I am not sure if the Minister of State made the cut. If he did, congratulations; if not, commiserations. I am not sure if I made it. If not, I should probably try harder. There can be no greater accolade for an Irish politician than to be on that list. It shows we are getting under the Kremlin's skin, doing what we are supposed to be doing and pushing back on Russia's behaviour in Ukraine.

Joking aside, it raises a serious question in relation to Ireland. Will we ignore it? It is fairly pathetic. Alternatively, will we respond? If we choose to respond in our own good time, the Russian Embassy in Dublin should be firmly in the cross hairs. I am not saying we should shut it down completely, but we have four Irish diplomats in the Irish Embassy in Moscow. I see no reason why there should be more than four Russian diplomats in the embassy in Dublin. There are about 30 at the moment, and they are not all typists and gardeners. Nobody has any difficulty with genuine diplomats doing diplomatic work but we have a difficulty with people masquerading as diplomats and doing nefarious work in this jurisdiction. If we are to respond, we should set our sights firmly on the Russian Embassy.

I offer my sympathy and condolences to the Polish ambassador and to the families of the two Polish people who tragically lost their lives yesterday. The preliminary supports suggest that what happened was caused by a Ukraine surface-to-air missile which was fired in good faith to intercept an incoming cruise missile but which malfunctioned and landed in Poland. Regardless of the cause, it does not make things easier for the families, but it emphasises the risk of escalation and the fact that there is no guarantee we can contain this conflict. The blame again must be laid squarely at the doorstep of the Kremlin. The missile was fired in self-defence . The war could stop tomorrow if the Russian regime calls a ceasefire and withdraws its troops.

I welcome the continued military, diplomatic, financial, economic and political support on the part of the European Union for Ukraine, in particular the additional €30 million Ireland is providing, consisting of €25 million for Ukraine and €5 million for Moldova. It is good to see Moldova getting support from us as well.

I welcome the commencement of the Irish military training mission there. It is based on Germany and Poland, focusing on mine clearance and improvised explosive device, IED, demolition. There is another component we might want to consider. There is considerable corporate knowledge here of war crimes investigation. Many people in Ireland have worked directly and indirectly for The Hague and have a skill set that could be involved in that training mission. If we are looking to add an extra string to the bow, that is something we should consider.

The Taoiseach mentioned energy and stated that gas reserves in the EU are at about 90%.That is a good and positive story. The mild weather in the past month or so has probably helped. I know it is outside the Minister of State's remit, but Ireland has no gas reserves. We have plenty of oil reserves because about 25 years ago the European Union decreed that we should have 90 days' supply. Oil is fine. We have reserves on this island and in Denmark and Spain, but we have no gas reserves. It is a key vulnerability so we need to develop that capacity urgently, or certainly as soon as possible.

I appreciate the update regarding the EU Council meeting. I look forward to the next meeting on 15 December.

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