Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 214: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has called in the Russian Ambassador to discuss with him the use of Irish passports by persons allegedly carrying out long-term deep cover assignments in the United States; if any official in the Russian embassy is known to have been involved in activities relating to this matter and the action, if any, taken to-date to record this State's disapproval of the misuse of Irish passports in such circumstances [46320/10]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Earlier this year I became aware of allegations that persons accused of carrying out long-term, "deep cover" assignments in the United States on behalf of the Russian Federation may have used fraudulent Irish passports. On being made aware of these allegations I asked the Passport Service and An Garda Síochána to undertake an investigation. I understand that the Gardaí have since received information alleging that as many as six Irish forged passports using material cloned from the valid passports of Irish citizens may have been involved in the case in question. I can confirm that the six citizens have been interviewed by the Gardaí and the Passport Service and that those whose passport details were allegedly used have, as a precautionary measure, been issued with replacement passports. The investigation has not yet concluded. However, I should stress that what is being investigated is an allegation relating to events outside this jurisdiction. Accordingly the process of gathering and substantiating evidence is time consuming.

On 1 October, senior officials of my Department informed the Russian Ambassador and a senior official from Moscow, who was visiting Dublin on other business, that the Government was investigating US allegations on the use of forged Irish passports by Russian agents and made clear that the Government took serious exception to the forgery and misuse of Irish passports. My officials notified their Russian counterparts that, depending on the outcome of the current enquiries, we may seek the assistance of the Russian authorities in furthering this investigation. I will await the outcome of the current enquiries before deciding whether there are grounds for me to meet with the Russian Ambassador and, if so, the nature of that conversation.

Once I have received the reports of the investigation, I will consider the evidence before reporting to the Government and recommending any course of action. I will then report to the House.