James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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7. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will be advising any Irish citizens currently in Russia to leave; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48983/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Foreign Affairs is closely monitoring the situation in Russia in consultation with the Irish Embassy in Moscow. The Department currently advises against all travel to Russia. The security status of our travel advice for Russia was raised to "do not travel", which is the Department’s highest level of warning, on 28 February 2022. On 7 March 2022, Irish citizens in Russia were advised to consider carefully their presence in Russia and those who wished to leave were advised to do so as quickly as possible. On 7 April 2022, two diplomats from the Irish Embassy were instructed to leave Russia. This has limited the ability of the embassy to provide services and assistance to Irish citizens in Russia. In light of ongoing developments, the Department’s advice to citizens was further strengthened on 14 April 2022, when Irish citizens in Russia were advised to consider carefully the necessity of their continued stay, and to make plans to leave.

Irish citizens currently in Russia are advised to be vigilant about their own safety and to avoid mass gatherings, including protests or demonstrations. Citizens should be aware that new laws that affect media freedom of expression can be used to impose severe and arbitrary sentences. Irish citizens should be mindful that these laws cover posting or sharing banned content on social media. We also recommend that Irish citizens should be mindful that increasingly severe limitations on banking, including the withdrawal of Visa and Mastercard services, may directly affect their ability to access their money for the foreseeable future. Any Irish citizens remaining in Russia are recommended to register their details with our embassy in Moscow, and they can contact the embassy should they require assistance. The embassy currently has reduced capacity to provide support in crisis scenarios, particularly for citizens situated far from Moscow. The Department’s advice to citizens is clearly outlined in the Department's travel advisory notice for Russia, along with information on current departure options from Russia.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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My question relates to the position of Irish citizens in Russia. What advice is being given to those people in light of the mobilisation and continued deterioration of conditions?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I will update the House because some questions have been asked in the media this morning about the remains of Rory Mason and also about Brian Maher, who was interviewed on "Morning Ireland" this morning.

Our consular teams and our team in the embassy in Kyiv are working with Ukrainian authorities to ensure Rory Mason's remains are brought home to his family as soon as possible. Separately, we are involved in a European medevac, effectively, to bring injured EU citizens out of Kyiv and get them home. We are working with Brian Maher on that and hopefully it will happen in the next day or so. I want to clarify that because there has been discussion in the media this morning on it. There is no crossover between the two issues. One is about repatriation of the remains of a young man and the other is a medevac system. They are two separate procedures.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is closely monitoring the situation in Russia in consultation with the Embassy of Ireland in Moscow. The Department currently advises against all travel to Russia. The security status of our travel advice for Russia was raised to "Do not travel", the Department’s highest level of warning, on 28 February, after the war began. On 7 March, Irish citizens in Russia were advised to consider carefully their presence there and those who wished to leave were advised to do so as quickly as possible. On 7 April, two diplomats from the Embassy of Ireland were instructed to leave Russia. This has limited the ability of the embassy to provide services and assistance to Irish citizens in Russia.

In light of ongoing developments, the Department’s advice was further strengthened on 14 April, when Irish citizens in Russia were advised to consider carefully the necessity of their continued stay and to make plans to leave. Irish citizens in Russia are advised to be vigilant about their own safety and to avoid mass gatherings, including protests or demonstrations. Citizens should be aware that new laws that affect media freedom of expression can be used to impose severe and arbitrary sentences. Irish citizens should be mindful that this includes posting or sharing banned content on social media. We also recommend that Irish citizens should be mindful that increasingly severe limitations on banking, including the withdrawal of Visa and Mastercard services, may directly affect their ability to access their money for the foreseeable future.

Any Irish citizens remaining in Russia are recommended to register their details with the embassy in Moscow, and they can contact the embassy should they require assistance. The embassy currently has reduced capacity to provide support in crisis scenarios, particularly for citizens situated far from Moscow. The Department’s advice to citizens is clearly outlined on its travel advisory for Russia, along with information on current departure options from Russia should they want to leave.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I have allowed a minute and a half extra on that because of the circumstances.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I probably will not need it and will try to be efficient with my time. I thank the Minister for the update. There are three categories of information regarding the situation of Irish citizens in Russia. One is the degree to which consular assistance remains available onsite and on the ground. The Minister mentioned the embassy presence continues. What practical assistance can be given to citizens in that situation? To what extent are they susceptible to mobilisation? What is the legal position? Are they in a position to refuse? Are they liable to be conscripted? Is that a live threat to Irish citizens? Does it depend on dual nationality or the nature of their citizenship? There are practical considerations concerning routes out. I understand it is becoming more and more difficult to get flights to the EU or third countries, as many citizens, not least many Russian citizens, are trying to flee the situation. That places an additional complication on Irish citizens attempting to depart. Is the Minister and the Department aware of that? Can any practical advice be given there?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for her latitude on the answer. It was important. There is consular assistance available. We have an embassy. It is not operating at full capacity because Russia has effectively expelled two of our diplomats in response to justified decisions we had to take. We have a presence there. We can and will help Irish citizens but are limited in what we can do for a series of reasons, some of which I have outlined.

I do not think the mobilisation that has been announced impacts on Irish citizens in Russia. I stand to be corrected on that if I am wrong but I would be surprised if non-Russian citizens were required to mobilise.

There are flight options out of Russia. You can fly to the EU via Turkey, in particular, but those flight options are much more limited than they normally would be.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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That has answered the question. I thank the Minister.