Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It looks like the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, continues to be the bold child of Europe. It is to be welcomed that he left the room when the decision was about to be taken on opening accession talks with Ukraine and we should be thankful he did not veto this decision. There has been some criticism of the Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, for unblocking the payment of funds to Hungary on the eve of the summit on the basis it had apparently reformed its legal system, as demanded by the EU. As the Taoiseach has said, Viktor Orbán did veto the allocation of more EU financial aid to Ukraine. This is happening at the same time as Republicans in the US are blocking the granting of arms support to that country. Is it proposed that the other 26 EU countries will now allocate this money to Ukraine bilaterally or is there a chance that this matter can be resolved at the next meeting of the European Council in February?

Why was it, as the Taoiseach referenced in his response, there was no mention in the final communiqué of the terrible events taking place in Gaza? I know Ireland, Belgium, Spain and Malta did Trojan work to try to get a joint statement on Gaza. Will the Taoiseach in his answer expand on why it was not possible to have any reference to these events in the final communiqué?

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