Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

To start with the Deputy's last point, that is a huge concern because, in fairness to President Trump, he has been very clear that he wants the war to end. He wants peace and the President of the European Commission, President von der Leyen, has welcomed some of the interventions President Trump has made in that regard. There has been significant dialogue between a number of senior European leaders including the British Prime Minister, the French President, the President of the Commission, Prime Minister Tusk and others who have met a number of times. As the Deputy will have seen, there were phone calls back and forth between them and the Oval Office in endeavouring to get to a position of a ceasefire and, one would hope, a negotiated, just, lasting and enduring peace.

What we are now seeing is that there are two Presidents -although there is only aggressor - involved in the war, President Putin and President Zelenskyy. President Zelenskyy has said very clearly and categorically that he is willing, as is the Ukrainian Government, to accept a full, unconditional ceasefire but President Putin is not. Every day we hear from Russia and its proxies and there is always another hurdle, another if, but or caveat while, as the Deputy rightly says, we hear reports of further advances of the Russian offensive into Ukraine and the continued targeting of civilian infrastructure and crucial energy infrastructure as well.

Far be it from me to try to predict what the US President will do, which is a challenge, but one would hope that he would join with European friends and allies in trying to maximise the pressure on Russia. If he is saying that he wants peace and he wants parties to get around the table, then there has to be, in my view, sanctions for the party that is refusing to get around the table, particularly when that party is the aggressor in the brutal, illegal war.

We are continuing to engage. I should acknowledge that the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, was in Odesa recently and the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, was in Lviv. We are in constant contact and engagement, bilaterally and at EU level, in terms of to Ukraine. The sanctions Europe is putting in place are appropriate and an important part of keeping the pressure on Russia. The sanctions are being enforced in Ireland. EU regulations have direct effect in Irish law so it means they must be complied with in the same way as domestic Irish legislation. As such, a natural or legal person who contravenes the provisions of an EU sanctions regulation would be guilty of an offence and liable to prosecution.

We have seen an unprecedented scope of sanctions adopted by the EU since February 2022 in respect of Russia's illegal aggression in Ukraine. This has required an increased level of co-ordination and co-operation on sanctions across Government. My Department chairs the cross-departmental international sanctions committee, which monitors, reviews and co-ordinates the implementation, administration and exchange of information on sanctions. At EU level, co-ordination among member states has also increased to ensure that sanctions are implemented in a harmonised way. What we really need to see now is European unity on continuing the sanctions and the rollover of sanctions. Hungary must play its part in this, but regardless of Hungary's position, we are going to keep the sanctions in place. We also need to prepare an 18th package of sanctions.

I will provide the Deputy with a further note on the shadow fleet, given his interest in it.

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