Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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172. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has had any recent discussions with his Ukrainian counterpart; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26984/25]

Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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173. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if any further sanctions will be imposed on Russia; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26983/25]

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Has the Tánaiste had any recent discussions with his Ukrainian counterpart and will he comment on that? Will he update us on whether any further sanctions will be imposed on Russia?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 172 and 173 together.

I thank Deputy Lahart. I am committed, as is the rest of the Government, to working with our European and Ukrainian counterparts to maintain our solidarity with Ukraine and to ensure Ukraine gets the support it needs to defend itself against brutal Russian aggression. This remains a key focus of my engagements, both bilaterally and at the European Union. Ukraine, as the Deputy can imagine, features prominently on the monthly agenda of the Foreign Affairs Council. We are regularly - in fact, almost always - joined by the foreign minister of Ukraine, generally virtually, to hear directly about the situation on the ground and Ukraine’s most pressing needs. This is an important forum for discussion on what more the EU can do to ensure Ukraine gets the support it urgently needs to defend itself and to deter future Russian aggression.

One of my earliest engagements as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade was an introductory phone call with the Ukrainian foreign minister. During that call, I reaffirmed our country's commitment to providing much-needed diplomatic, political, humanitarian, economic and non-lethal military assistance to Ukraine. On 15 February this year, I met the minister on the margins of the Munich Security Conference where we had a detailed exchange on recent developments and how Ireland could further strengthen its support. I have also had a number of phone calls and engagements with the minister since then.

In September 2024, I visited Kyiv and saw at first hand the appalling impacts of Russian aggression. On that occasion, I signed with President Zelenskyy a bilateral agreement on support and co-operation, which underlined Ireland’s unwavering commitment to continuing to support Ukraine and pledged us both to deepen our co-operation and partnership.

Most recently, it was a privilege to be joined virtually by the Ukrainian foreign minister when he addressed the Global Ireland Summit on 6 May. The minister pointed to the global ramifications of Russia’s full-scale invasion, including by undermining the multilateral rules-based order on which we rely for peace and prosperity. Ireland’s position is clear - this war and the threat posed by Russia are not only existential issues for Ukraine but also a major challenge to the security of Europe. I look forward to further close co-operation with my counterpart to strengthen our collective response to these shared challenges.

Specifically on the issue of sanctions, Ireland has consistently supported strong sanctions against Russia in response to its unprovoked and illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The scale and speed of the sanctions adopted by the EU in response to Russia’s brutal aggression have been unprecedented. The broad range of sanction measures put in place are having a tangible impact on the Russian economy. They are making it harder for Russia to access battlefield goods and to generate revenue to pay for its illegal war. Given Russia’s continuing aggression in Ukraine, while refusing to accept a ceasefire and continuing to target infrastructure, it is important that we maintain and increase this sanction pressure. That is why Ireland strongly supported the adoption on 20 May of the 17th package of sanctions against Russia, including its particular focus on measures to counter the shadow fleet. The listing of a further 189 shadow fleet vessels will limit the revenue Russia is able to generate from oil exports. I also welcome that consideration is already being given to a further set of sanctions measures.

We will continue to work closely with EU partners to ensure we are doing all that we can to exert maximum pressure on Russia to end its illegal war of aggression. In addition to imposing new measures, it is also critical that the sanctions we have adopted remain in place. We have been clear that the lifting of sanctions by any country or by the European Union should only ever be considered in the context of a lasting peace agreement.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate the combined answer there. I have a couple of comments. The Tánaiste will be aware of this and the briefings he gets will be far more sophisticated and informative than what I would be privy to, which is reading some of the international newspapers today, but it looks like Russia is mounting a further offensive into Ukraine. There is a lot of commentary in the press about what the US President's next step will be. The US President had said if Russia did not take certain steps, then he would not just consider sanctions but issue them. I do not know what the latest commentary is on that. We in the foreign affairs committee will be hosting the Ukrainian ambassador as well and doing our small piece in keeping that high on the agenda. I will be very keen and interested to hear what the ambassador has to update us on. I wonder about the unrealistic ultimatums that emerge from the US on a daily basis and how difficult that must be to deal with diplomatically. I imagine the uncertainty of that and the lack of a direct path make diplomacy quite difficult.

There was an impression at the outset of the new US Presidency that the President enjoyed a special relationship with the Russian President but now there are public clashes, so it is very foggy and unsteady from day to day. The US President is taking a very unsteady approach to diplomacy.

On sanctions, I am interested in what the Tánaiste is saying about the shadow fleet and I ask him to say a little bit more about that.

On global diplomacy, will the Tánaiste give us an insight into his view on the direction of travel of this conflict?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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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.