No one should be surprised by Russian attempts to influence and distort public opinion in Ireland, Taoiseach Simon Harris has said, following reports that a politician working within the Oireachtas is a Russian intelligence asset.
Mr Harris was responding to reports in the Sunday Times claiming that a politician working in the Oireachtas has been recruited by Russian intelligence services as “an agent of influence”.
The Taoiseach said that while he would not comment directly on matters of national security he stated that Ireland was “not immune” to Russian attempts to sway public opinion. “It shouldn’t come as any surprise to any of us that Russia seeks to influence public opinion, seeks to distort public opinion, and is active in relation to that across the world, and that Ireland is not immune from that,” Mr Harris said, speaking to reporters prior to a Charles Stuart Parnell commemoration event held at Glasnevin Cemetery.
Mr Harris said that there has been an increase in such activity since Russia’s “brutal, illegal” invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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The Sunday Times reported that the alleged Russian agent offered in helping to establish links between Russians and paramilitaries in Northern Ireland during Brexit talks despite not having links to said paramilitary groups. The newspaper reported that investigators have found no evidence of the parliamentarian – who was monitored by gardaí and the Defence Forces – receiving payments from Russia. As part of the recruitment operation the Sunday Times claims that the Russians used a “honeypot”, which in an agent that seeks to romantically engage a target.
“The gardaí and our security services take all of these issues extremely seriously, monitor these issues extremely seriously, and work with international counterparts on all of these matters,” Mr Harris said. “I have great confidence in the ability of the gardaí working with international counterparts in relation to this.”
Pressed on if he was aware who the alleged agent is, Mr Harris said: “We never comment in this country, and I’m not really sure of any country that does comment in relation to security matters. Not commenting is not giving a view one way or the other, it’s saying that we don’t ever put information in relation to security, national security, into the public domain. That’s not to say that these matters aren’t taken extraordinarily seriously.”
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