Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome that response.

In fact, this is something we discussed at a Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting early last year so I am pleased to see there have been developments in respect of it. We need to take into account that it is calculated there are approximately $350 billion in Russian Government assets that have been frozen since the invasion back in February 2022. Of course, these are enormously significant funds. We know from a Belgium-based financial services company, Euroclear, that it holds approximately $214 billion in such assets and it has to date generated interest of about $3.26 billion.

We need to take into account that although the issue of the continued funding of Ukraine has become a contentious political issue, there is an avenue down which we could go, which I think would get widespread public support. I was pleased to see that not only the Tánaiste but also the new Foreign Secretary in the United Kingdom, David Cameron, have indicated that this is something that should be looked at. Belgium has taken steps to ensure that those assets held in Belgium and the tax generated by those assets can be used to aid Ukraine. I do not know if this is something the Tánaiste thinks can be done on a national basis or whether we need EU-wide support to do it.

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