James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste touched on the western Balkans. I commend my colleague Deputy Crowe. It is a very interesting proposal to broaden the pool. We have heard a lot of discussion this morning of bloodshed and slaughter in Gaza but we have not heard any reference yet this morning to the bloodshed, slaughter and territorial attacks that are happening in Ukraine. My question goes to the western Balkans, the legacy issue and of course the slaughter that took place there in the late 1990s, which was saved by the West, dare I say, and the international community coming to the rescue of that annihilation. What is the status of the accession talks for the western Balkan states as per the recent meeting?

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