'Serious concern about Russian infiltration' as 14,000 Irish visas approved
James Cox
An Irish MEP has written to Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan about his "serious concerns" about the approval of 14,000 visas to Russian citizens since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
According to Department of Justice figures almost 97 per cent of visa applications from Russian citizens are approved by Irish officials.
Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews has raised the issue with the Minister for Justice.
In an interview with BreakingNews.ie, Barry Andrews said: "A lot of those visas are perfectly legitimate and we need to be careful not to filter out genuine people who are coming to work, study or to reunite with loved ones for short periods of time.
"However, there is of course serious concerns about Russian infiltration, the use of civilians for espionage, this has happened across the European Union.
"The other EU member states have taken quite significant action to really restrict visas to make sure they are properly and thoroughly filtered, and I'm really posing the question to the Department of Justice to make sure that Ireland is taking the same approach.
"The red flag for me, excuse the unintended pun, is the high approval rates of applications for visas from both Russia and Belarus, which is north of 90 per cent."
He also said British officials have expressed concerns about Ireland being used as a "back door" for Russian operatives to gain entry to the United Kingdom.
"The UK would have a much more sophisticated surveillance capacity for counter-espionage than Ireland does. There may well be cases of Ireland being used as a back door."
Ireland will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from July 1st to December 31st, 2026.
Andrews warned that this will make the State a "target".
Russia has long held an interest in using Ireland as an entry point to the EU, Andrews said, pointing to controversy over the Russian Embassy on Orwell Road in Dublin.
"Previously the Irish Government has expressed its concern about the presence of Russian diplomats, which doesn't accord with the amount of diplomatic relations between Ireland and Russia.
"The Government refused the planning permission application at the Russian Embassy back in 2018, concluding there was no legitimate reason to expand the footprint.
"Then there was the expulsion of diplomats back in 2022 after the full scale invasion of Ukraine."
He also said the Common Travel Area with the UK makes Ireland a "natural target for nefarious actors".
I think holding the presidency puts a target on your back.
"In recent times the Schengen Area has closed down applications for multi-entry visas from Russia. Clearly there are concerns both from Irish Government level and EU member state level about the use of this visa system for nefarious activities.
"We're seeing the level of naivety. It remains to be seen whether the approval rating is appropriate or not, I haven't had an opportunity to compare it with other EU member states, but it seems to me a very high rate of approval for these applications.
"I think holding the presidency puts a target on your back. We have enjoyed a certain amount of protection courtesy of our geographic position but now most EU member states realise real threats are hybrid and not based solely on your location.
"Ireland has so many subsea cables, very vulnerable gas pipelines, electricity interconnectors."
He pointed to Finland and Poland, where all Russian visas have been denied. Andrews also said an EU level plan, to issues lifetime visa bans on Russian soldiers who have fought in Ukraine, should be considered.
"There are red flags, there are concerns across EU member states, where they have the Schengen system, we're the only EU member state note in this zone with a different visa system.
"This combined with holding the EU Presidency, combined with not really having invested in security very much over the decades, you would imagine if you were a Russian operative one of the places to apply for a visa without being noticed might be Ireland.
"What I'm writing to Jim O'Callaghan about is an element of something wider."
