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

Both Deputies McDonald and Bacik raised the expulsion of four senior officials in the Russian Federation embassy because their behaviour was not in accordance with international standards of diplomatic behaviour. We are doing this under Article 9 of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. I do not want to divulge the security briefing we received in respect of these individuals but in my view, it is the correct and the right decision in terms of our own national security but also in terms of sending a very clear message about our abhorrence of the war in Ukraine. The decision is primarily informed by the briefings we have received from security officials in respect of the behaviour of these individuals. That is why the Department of Foreign Affairs summoned the ambassador today.

We also wanted to take initiatives of this kind with our colleagues in the EU. Some of the Baltic states and states on the eastern side of Europe have already taken steps in sending officials back to the Russian Federation. No member state has yet expelled an ambassador. We have carried out these measures relating to officials with some countries today and although we worked with other countries on this initiative, it has not been possible to get the full 27 states working on the same agenda.

With regard to the ambassador, we are anxious to keep channels open and we believe that is important for the protection of citizens and in maintaining a channel to communicate our abhorrence of the war directly to the Russian Federation Government. This also will enable humanitarian assistance if it is required for Irish citizens in Russia or certain areas of Ukraine if we need to engage with the Russian Federation Government or officials to facilitate humanitarian responses to situations that may arise. It is important that diplomatic channels are maintained and kept open. That is the motivation behind the decision not to expel the Russian ambassador at this stage.

Deputy Boyd Barrett asked a question relating to Housing for All. I do not accept Housing for All has failed as it is less than a year since its publication. The Government has been in office now for 21 months and a lot of progress has been made. We were held back by Covid-19 as the two lockdowns had an impact on construction. There were nonetheless 31,000 commencements last year, which augurs well for increased supply. Our aim this year is for 12,000 social houses, 9,000 of which will be built. We have also brought back 5,500 empty houses or voids within the local authority system. We have kept a strong focus and resourced local authorities so as not to have houses idle.

The cost -rental model we are developing is very important. We need to ramp it up and it will be a very significant feature of giving opportunities to people for affordable rents in future. That goes along with supply and we must build far more houses than we have been doing as a country.

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