Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a key issue when we come to the combined European effort in support of Ukraine. We are being asked to do more for Ukraine by other allies around the world, but not all 27 EU member states are prepared to do that or are pulling their weight. That is why the €250 million allocated to the European PEACE facility is what we want to see developed. It is part of a much wider package. That is why we are reverting to the bilateral method of using €100 million, which we can get to where it needs to be as quickly as possible.

I will be quite frank: Hungary is not being a willing partner of the European Union; it is being a direct block to saving lives on the ground in Ukraine and ensuring this conflict comes to a quick end. The longer this conflict goes on, the more our energy prices stay up, the more people are being displaced, the more our grocery prices are being put up and the more all the people of Europe, whether they are Hungarian, Irish, Ukrainian or Belgian, are at risk from an aggressive power. We have to go around the system. The EU is being imaginative and Ireland has committed to play its full part with the high representative.

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