Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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605. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will propose a similar agreement to the proposal by the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister to the US Government to agree a maximum number of representatives in each of their respective diplomatic missions in order to fix the maximum number of Russian diplomats in Dublin equal to the number of Irish diplomats in Moscow; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63534/22]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961 (VCDR) identifies three categories of Mission staff as follows:

- Diplomatic staff;

- Administrative and Technical staff, and;

- Service staff.

There are currently 21 officers at the Embassy of the Russian Federation who have been notified to my Department under Article 10 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations - 9 Diplomats and 12 Administrative and Technical staff.

Prior to the invasion of Ukraine there were a total of 30 officers at the Embassy, 14 diplomats and 16 Administrative and Technical staff.

Despite our strong disagreement with the actions taken by Russia, the Government's view is that diplomatic channels between Ireland and the Russian Federation should remain open, not least in the interests of our own citizens, both in Russia itself and the five central Asian republics to which Ireland is accredited via our Embassy in Moscow. These contacts are also an opportunity to reiterate to the Russian side our expectation that Russia will fully meet its VCDR obligations in respect of our Embassy in Moscow, including in relation to the security of our personnel and premises.

As with all of our responses to this crisis, we continue to coordinate closely with other EU Member States on our engagement with Russia and this includes keeping the size of embassy personnel under review.