Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of the abducted children. It was brought up yesterday at the Foreign Affairs Council by the Commissioner and the European Commission now intends to hold a specific summit on this in early 2026. That is in addition to the other activities under way in the various international coalitions, including some Ireland is part of. The Deputy is right to put a spotlight on this. It is one of the particularly cruel and despicable aspects of Russia's illegal aggression and invasion of Ukraine.

I regularly engage with Ukraine's political leadership through our embassy in Kyiv and its embassy in Dublin. There is a strong channel of engagement between our Governments. At an EU level, I work closely with counterparts on the Foreign Affairs Council, together with whom we remain committed to working with Ukraine to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. The Ukrainian foreign minister frequently joins the Foreign Affairs Council by video-call. In fact he joined it yesterday in person. I also had a bilateral meeting with him last month in New York during the UN high-level week. As part of that meeting, I, along with the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, announced a further €33.5 million in humanitarian development and peace supports which will provide crucial support for Ukrainian suffering as a result of Russian aggression.

The Taoiseach spoke to President Zelenskyy on 1 September and reaffirmed Ireland's strong support for and solidarity with the Ukrainian people. The Government continues to participate in the coalition of the willing meetings. Ukraine is engaging positively and constructively in discussions on a potential ceasefire, despite the Russian military assault on its towns, cities, ports and critical infrastructure.

It is clear that one country is so far showing no interest in peace and that is Putin's Russia. We all want to give peace a chance. We all want to get to a lasting, enduring peace, but the rest of the world is talking about this while Putin is still carrying out terror activities on the civilian population. Russia is not taking seriously in any way the prospect of a ceasefire. It remains intent on escalating its aggression so we need to continue to look, at an EU level, at what we can do to increase the pressure on Putin to get him to the negotiating table. That is why we are preparing a 19th package of sanctions, which I hope the European Council will be in a position to agree later this week.

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