Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

No, I am not. I would like to extend our deepest sympathy to the Russian ambassador, Yury Filatov, and the President and people of Russia on the tragic fire that killed 64 people, including possibly 41 children, at the Winter Cherry shopping centre in Kemerovo in Siberia. It is a terrible tragedy. We had the experience of the Stardust tragedy, and the fire that happened in that shopping centre was similar in the way the doors were locked and bolted. It was an horrendous situation for the children and the adults involved. It would be good if we, through the Leader, extended our deepest sympathy to the Russian ambassador. I am sure everyone in this House would like to extend their sympathy to the people of Russia.

Regarding the expulsion of a diplomat from the Russian delegation here, all I can say is that I hope the Government has very sound grounds that the government there was involved in this Salisbury attack. We have not been briefed in this House on the reasons for the expulsion of a diplomat from Dublin. We have a very good relationship with the Russian Federation. As a former Minister with responsibility for trade, I led the first delegation from Europe to then new Russian Federation in the 1990s. We built up an enormous trade with the Russian Federation. All I hope is that we will not be victims of the decision of the Government and that jobs will not be lost in our agriculture and industrial sectors. We have to maintain our trade links, particularly post Brexit, with all our trading partners. We have a great relationship with the Russian Federation and the ambassador in Dublin and I hope those relations can be restored as quickly as possible.