Commenting on the government\u2019s decision to expel a Russian diplomat today, Social Democrats\u2019 co-leader R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall TD said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThis decision is a very significant foreign policy development, particularly given the fact of Irish neutrality. Such actions should always be carried out first foremost in the national interest and be underpinned by solid security analysis.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not sufficient to base this kind of decision purely on a sense of solidarity with the United Kingdom in the wake of the recent Salisbury attack, however well-placed that sentiment happens to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs has yet to state clearly what this exceptional gesture will actually achieve. It is notable that not all EU states have responded to recent events by expelling Russian diplomatic staff.<\/p>\n
Deputy Shortall added:<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are undoubtedly legitimate grounds for concerns about the operations of Russian security personnel in Ireland. A recently as 2010, we saw evidence of Russian foreign intelligence service officers running a spy-ring in the US and forging Irish passports. It is only right for alarm bells to start ringing when we see reports that the Russian embassy in Dublin is to be expanded to three times the size of the US embassy. For a facility that serves a Russian population in Ireland of fewer than 3,000 people this is naturally worrying.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are also legitimate questions to be asked about the preparedness of Irish authorities to assess and defend the country against the level of threats we potentially face, particularly when it comes to cyber security. Several other European intelligence agencies have stated that Ireland is being used as a \u2018Trojan horse\u2019 to allow Russian intelligence to build links with people working in the technology, science and internet sectors.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf today\u2019s events remind us of anything it is that we tend as a country to pay scant attention to such threats, often assuming that these things occur elsewhere. The government should be investing in resources where they will be preventative use \u2013 not just dramatic diplomatic gestures.\u201d<\/p>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n
27 March 2018<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Commenting on the government\u2019s decision to expel a Russian diplomat today, Social Democrats\u2019 co-leader R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall TD said: \u201cThis decision is a very significant foreign policy development, particularly given the fact of Irish neutrality. Such actions should always be carried out first foremost in the national interest and be underpinned by solid security analysis. \u201cIt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,7,264],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-news","category-press-release","category-roisin-shortall"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n