There were many questions there and I will try to be as precise as I can in responding. Ireland and other EU member states have asked for, effectively, an impact assessment as we go in respect of these sanctions. This war, though, has only been going on for a month. The first three rounds of sanctions packages happened over five days. Normally, it takes months to put an impact assessment in place. Therefore, everything in this regard is happening in fast-forward, if you like. I understand the European Commission is…

In response to that comment, I have said many times that we are not neutral in this conflict.

We are being asked by the Ukrainian ambassador and the Ukrainian Government to make interventions and we are trying to do as much as we can to support the people of Ukraine who are under attack. We are also working as part of a collective effort within the EU and the broader international community to try to find a way of bringing this to an end. The Deputy is correct that there are advantages to Ireland's historical approach to military neutrality and non-alignment.

On the question of the IFSC, Ireland will ensure we will play our part in the full implementation of sanctions, full stop.

It is primarily a matter for the Department of Finance and the Central Bank of Ireland, along with other Departments. From my perspective, we have made commitments to EU sanctions and we must ensure they are fully implemented, including if that involves the IFSC. With respect to Deputy Lahart's question, because of the pace of the issue there is a need to respond quickly. Normally, before the EU would impose sanctions on a country or another part of the world, there would be much assessment before making a decision…

I am responding to four Deputies.

There were three. I am in your hands.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 83, 126, 145, 147 and 161 together. I was not sure whether this question was purely about Ukraine or about the broader relationship with Russia. I will give the Deputy answers on both. Ireland has kept channels for dialogue with Russia open, and my officials have had numerous engagements with Russian interlocutors on Ukraine. During such engagements, we have consistently made clear to Russia that we view its aggression against Ukraine since 2014 as unacceptable. In all our interacti…

It is my judgment that having a diplomatic channel for communication and sending messages makes sense on lots of levels. Even if there is a war going on, people need to talk. If we are going to continue to try to bring an end to that war, talking is necessary and diplomatic interventions are necessary, even if we fundamentally disagree with the people we are talking to in terms of the approach they are taking and the legality of that internationally. Having said that, we are assessing whether the extent of the pres…

The Commission on the Defence Forces was established on foot of a commitment in the programme for Government and the Government decision in December 2020, which also agreed its terms of reference and membership. The report was published on 9 February this year. The commission undertook a significant body of work encompassing its wide-ranging terms of reference. The report contains 69 main recommendations and, together with sub-recommendations, there are just over 130 overall. The commission's terms of reference inc…

As I said, I hope to bring forward an action plan and implementation plan that I can bring to Government before the summer recess. I hope to be able to do that in June. Certainly, people who have studied the detail of this report will understand that quite a lot of consultation is required before we can do that. It is important to give it that time but we do not want to waste any time either. I assure the Deputy we are not doing that. I have started discussions with the representative bodies and others to put that …

I have spoken to PDFORRA about this issue; I assume the Deputy knows that. There is no issue with goodwill. This is about trying to work our way through one of many issues we have to work through arising from the recommendations of the commission. I have said I have an open mind about PDFORRA's relationship with ICTU in the context of pay talks and that is my position. I have also said it is very difficult for me to talk to PDFORRA about the detail of that while a court case is ongoing. That is self-evident. There …

I will respond to the question that was put in writing. On an annual basis, the overall defence Vote group allocation is determined within the overarching budgetary framework and the approval of Dáil Éireann, having regard to the level of resources available to defence policy requirements. Thus, for 2022, the total gross allocation provided to the defence Vote group, as set out in budget 2022, was €1.107 billion, comprising €836 million for Vote 36, which is defence, and €271 million for Vote 35, which is pensions.…

I do not know if the Deputy has had a chance to read the report but the recommendation is that we would increase our level of ambition around defence and defence resourcing. Specifically it asks us to improve troop protection for more demanding roles overseas. Does the Deputy disagree with that? It asks us to enhance situational awareness with primary radar capacity; significantly strengthen military intelligence and cyberdefence capabilities; to increase naval presence by essentially double crewing so that we can …

That is not recommended.

The report does not recommend that the Government moves to purchase a squadron of fighter aircraft. There are three options for the Government: level of ambition one, which is to stay as we are; level of ambition two, which is to add the kind of capacity that I just put on the record; and level of ambition three, which is to increase military capacity more significantly in line with what most countries, in fact virtually all countries of the EU, have been doing for many years. The recommendation in the report is fo…

I am glad that this question was asked so that I can put some of the data on the record. As of 1 March, Ireland is contributing 569 personnel to nine different missions throughout the world. The main overseas missions in which Defence Forces personnel are currently deployed are the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, with 344 personnel and the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, UNDOF, in Syria with 132 personnel. In addition, three personnel are deployed to the MONUSCO stabilisation mission i…

What is happening with the review process, which is a civil-military process where we are looking at our presence overseas, is we are anticipating that later this decade we would like to be able to have the capacity to make contributions, primarily to UN missions, that are potentially more complex, particularly ones on the continent of Africa that may involve chapter 7 missions. In order to do that, there is of course a lead-in time with equipment, training and so on. It is no secret that because our numbers are no…

That information is a topic of discussion. When I was in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, the last time, we had a number of conversations on mandatory selection, that is, where people are asked to serve overseas when they have not volunteered to do so. That is because there are pinch points with skill sets and specialists that are needed for overseas missions. That is not an ideal situation and is why, from a recruitment and retention perspective, we must increase the numbers in the Defence Forc…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 21 together. The Deputy will be aware the provision of housing for members of the public is a matter primarily for the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, and my Department assists in any way it can in support of such applications for housing assistance, when requested to do so. Additionally, I point out my Department continues currently to occupy premises in a sympathetic manner on a case-by-case basis. It has been a long-standing policy to discontinue the pr…