Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not overestimate the diplomatic leverage the Deputy has just alluded to in terms of the expulsion of any diplomat. We have expelled diplomats in the past. The Deputy did not find favour with that in the past, as she knows. She took the view that it was contrary to military neutrality at the time, in the teeth of Russian aggression. I readily acknowledge that when that happens there is a reciprocal response and one ends up with nobody on the ground, particularly in Moscow, where we have Irish citizens. I do not know how this war is going to unfold or what implications it will have for Irish citizens. I do know that right now in Ukraine we are working extremely hard to help Irish citizens to get out, in particular very vulnerable young babies and so on in hospitals in Ukraine. I am not going to cut off channels that potentially can help us to get Irish citizens who are in difficulty out of Ukraine or anywhere else for that matter.

We have discussed everything with our European colleagues, including diplomatic issues. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, has discussed it at Foreign Ministers level and we discussed it at COREPER level and at Heads of State level. I really believe that the centrality of the importance of us working in unison trumps any domestic political consideration of me being able to say that I am leading ahead of the rest. I have no interest in doing that. In the teeth of the worst war on our Continent the best response is a unified response from the European Union working with the United States. That is the best response. I say that genuinely. It is not about one taking a lead over the other. I do not think that is the right way to go. It might play well domestically in the short-term, but it is not in the best interests of the Irish citizens.

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