I support the points made by my colleague, Deputy Richmond, on the question of EU membership for the country now under attack by the Russians. Will Ireland use its position at UN Security Council level to bring to boot as soon as possible any perpetrators who threaten their neighbours with a nuclear war and to make sure their case is heard before the European court?

There are processes for applications to the European Union, which have been going on for quite a long time. In my view, there has been a lot of meddling and manipulation going on in the geopolitical world. We saw that, for instance, with vaccines. It is interesting that Russia was offering Sputnik to various countries in the western Balkans, notwithstanding that it had not vaccinated its own population to any significant degree. It was doing so for geopolitical reasons, namely, to court favour with certain countries. In my view, the application processes for some countries have gone too slowly. I instance North Macedonia and Albania, which have made huge progress. We met with representatives of those countries before Christmas and are meeting with other representatives from the western Balkans.

Thank you, Taoiseach. The time is up.

Likewise, given what is now happening in Ukraine, we need to accelerate its prospect as an EU candidate country.

What about our efforts at the UN?

I do not have time to answer.