John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

First and foremost, I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, on his new position. This is my first opportunity to question the Minister of State on the floor of the House and I will try to be brief.

I have a couple of questions and we can take them one at a time in the first slot.

As we approach the first anniversary of the illegal invasion of Ukraine, I want to talk about the refugees who have been forced to flee Ukraine. Some 8 million, at this point, have fled the country in search of safety across Europe. When the war broke out, in February last year, the Government said that we could expect up to 200,000 refugees to land in Ireland. There is still no plan to house the 70,000 plus who have arrived here to date. We are expecting another new Russian onslaught once spring arrives. What analysis has been carried out by the EU on the expected number of Ukrainians to flee over the next number of months and what measures are being provided to member states by the EU to help address the many needs of those refugees once they come to Ireland or other member states?

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