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THE TRADE RELATIONSHIP between Ireland and Russia has been in decline since 2014, the year of the annexation of Crimea by Russia troops.
That year, Ireland’s overall trade worth with Russia stood at €948 million. Among the products Ireland exports to Russia is agri-products including Irish beef, which have been badly hit by sanctions placed on Russia over various diplomatic incidents.
This week, the Irish government announced that it was expelling a Russian diplomat over the poisoning of Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in England last month; the UK government said President Vladimir Putin was behind the attack.
In the past four years, trading relations have decreased significantly due to a number of factors, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
In 2014, the EU imposed targeted economic sanctions against the Russian Federation in response to its actions in he illegal annexation of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.
Recently, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Coveney said that Ireland recognised Ukraine’s “sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity”, and expressed concern over the worsening human rights situation in Crimean peninsula.
“All allegations of human rights violations involving political prisoners, human rights defenders and civil society activists must be fully and properly investigated.”
A number of other factors have also played a role in reducing trading relations between the two countries. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs:
These include a dramatic decline in the value of the rouble, a fall in oil prices, weak consumer demand, and negative investor sentiment towards Russia, all of which led the Russian economy to contract in 2015 and 2016.
The restrictive measures have impacted on trade between Russia and the EU, and as a result Ireland’s trade with Russia has “fallen significantly”.
In overall terms, the value of Ireland’s bilateral trade with Russia stood at €948 million in 2014. However, a once-off order valued at €150 million had a distorting effect on the overall export performance that year.
For Ireland, the direct effect of the EU sanctions has been “minimal”, according to the government, as the majority of goods and services we export to Russia are not covered by the EU restrictions.
On the other hand, the economic downturn in Russia, coupled with Russian countermeasures introduced in 2014 banning a range of EU agrifood goods hit our exports hard.
In 2013, Ireland exported 7,494 tonnes of beef worth a little under €10 million to Russia, the majority of which was beef offal. Simon Coveney, who was minister for Agriculture at the time, described the beef trade as “limited”, but also as “a useful alternative third country outlet for Irish beef, particularly beef offal”.
Coveney also said that the sanctions were having ”a big impact in some other sectors”.
In recent years, those import-export figures between Ireland and Russia have recovered:
After falling sharply in 2015 and registering a small increase in 2016, two-way trade rebounded significantly last year.
Exports reached €497 million last year, while imports were valued at €310 million, a total of €807 million.
On 20 March of this year, Dublin TD Joan Collins asked Coveney in the Dáil about Ireland’s relations with Russia following a brutal bombing campaign in eastern Ghouta.
As part of his response, he replied:
I believe that maintaining dialogue and contact at national level with countries with whom we do not always agree is not only necessary, but is the very essence of Ireland’s approach to foreign policy.
“Our concerns over Russia’s actions in Syria and Ukraine impacts on the nature of such cooperation, but we believe it is important to keep channels of communication open and to develop our trade relations in the areas and sectors where trade is still possible.
Trade relations, and promotion of Irish trade, is not a reward for good behaviour. It is a priority activity to support Irish jobs and livelihoods.
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Re:”“Our concerns over Russia’s actions in Syria and Ukraine impacts on the nature of such cooperation..”
Does this fella have any concerns letting US war planes to use Shannon in order to bomb Iraq, Libya and other countries?
@TorKing: Are the US annexing those countries?
No, they’re not. There’s a wee bit of a difference between bombing ISIS and taking over the Ukraine because you want an extra naval base.
@ihcalaM: we’re still waiting on the evidence of the weapons of mass destruction which Blair and Bush and others used as an excuse to invade Iraq which totally destabilised it. Libya is also a victim country of American interference. We can’t be selective about which countries we decide to ‘punish’ for perceived or real wrongdoing.
@John Campbell: Criticisms of the way the US handled the deposing of various dictators are all well and good and everybody has heard them before.
The point stands – they didn’t annex any of those countries. There’s a very big difference between being bumbling idiots about nation building and actually *stealing land* from other countries.
@TorKing: Arming terrorist and illegal invasions are just as serious as annexing countries.
@TorKing: shut up you half Witt
@ihcalaM: 90% of the Crimeans are Russian speaking. That a referendum was held in Crimea before it became part of Russia is always ignored in our media, claimeing “staged”, without further investigation. Russia has had the naval base in Crimea for many many years before the coup in Ukraine. You forget that the former leader in Ukraine was democratically elected, not so the present. Looks a little like when Salavador Allende was ousted by a CIA coup in Chile. Why do we accept dictatorships in countries like Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia etc., while we claim election fraud in many democracies because they do not want Western companies to take over the fertile soil that has sustained their people for generations? To grow (GMO) Cotton for export and drive the people to starvation into the mountain highlands, like happened in Ethiopia?
@ihcalaM: Think you have it wrong there chappie. Firstly, a far right Nazi government ousted a legitimate elected government in Ukraine with the help of the Yanks. Secondly, America created, armed, and finances ISIS. The Yanks act as ISIS air force in Syria.
@Sten Bsell: Is that the referendum that there was a 105% turn out and only Russian hand picked observers were allowed?
And you seem to forget that the Russian puppet President was democratically impeached by a unanimous vote in the Ukrainian Parliament, 5 minutes before he resigned himself!!
And you seem to be forgetting Russia only had a Lease on the Naval Base until 2017 and were informed that the Lease was not going to be renewed so they took by force what they couldn’t have legally.
As Saudi Arabia, the House of Saud have been the original tribal rulers of that land for centuries and as such became the ruling family when the country of Saudi Arabia was formed after the First World War.
Ethiopia has had multiple rulers and governments both pro Russian and pro Western.
@Alan Gray: What far Right Nazi Government would that have been? The Party of the Regions was the Government at the time (his own party) and they voted along with every other MP to unanimously impeach him. So if some has gotten it wrong you will find it is you.
I know Russia has persistently tried to re-write the fact as they happened because it doesn’t suit their narritive for their domestic audience but if you are living in the West then you should know better. There was more than enough independent coverage of the events as they took place.
@Sten Bsell:
That Russia launched a military invasion of Crimea *before* any referendum was held and that only hand-picked ‘neutral’ observers were allowed to oversee the vote is also conveniently overlooked by people like yourself.
@Alan Gray:
You really bought into the Kremlin “far right Nazi” propaganda hook, line and sinker.
The composition of the Verkhovna Rada was virtually identical before and after what the Kremlin claim wad a ‘coup’.
The Kremlin also want you to believe that the very same representatives that were there when the Kremlin’s man was in power suddenly became far-right nazis overnight. You fell for it.
@Walt Jabsco: Thinking for ones self and fact checking before posting is not encouraged in the Putinistas. The Kremlin tell them what to say and any deviation from the authorised story is frowned upon.
@Mick Jordan:
It must be the only ‘coup’ in history that left the same parliament in place!
@ihcalaM: USA covers ISIS and other terror groups up in Syria. This is the only purpose of their mission. ISIS armed with USA supplied ammunition.
@ihcalaM: No, the US did not take over the countries, installed instead local governments to do that job so that their corporations took over anything worthwhile. The US government is not there to “spread democracy” or freedom for any other than their corporations. It is working for the people that pay their senators and congressmen to be elected, time after time. And it fools many, including yourselves. Who is making the money on Libyan and Iraqi oil today?
In a couple of years time if thing continue to go down the Swanee the young people of Ireland will be conscripted into an EU federal army to fight against Russia.
And when our sons and daughters arrive back in Shannon in bodybags Simon Coveney will hold up his hands and say:
‘It wasn’t Fine Gael’s decision – the EU forced us into it’
@Sebastian Wilson: Does Putin stand and be accountable when Russian soldiers return in body bags from Eastern Ukraine, or more recently, Syria?
@Ruairi Gagarin: what has that got to do with Ireland being dragged into a European Army?
@Sebastian Wilson: Is Russia planning on invading another country in the EU? Are they planning on invading a NATO country? Because unless it is, neither the EU nations individually or collectively will be invading Russia nor will NATO, so their wouldn’t be a war.
And if Russia were to invade another EU country it could only be the honourable thing for All civilised nations to assist in countering such aggression.
@Mick Jordan:
Sure Mick. As long as we’re doing a ‘bit of business’ we’ll be all right I suppose.
@Sebastian Wilson: Well are the Russians planning on invading the EU then?
@Sebastian Wilson: __ Complete and utter clueless nonsense from yet another dodgy FB account.
@Sebastian Wilson: “the young people of Ireland will be conscripted into an EU federal army to fight against Russia.”
Sorry but that is total nonsense.
It is true that Russia invaded Crimea and formented civil war in Ukraine….However it’s actions in Syria are different….The CNN John McCain narrative that Assad killed 50000 of his own people and used chlorine gas every month against them is not true…..Most of the 400000 civilians in East Ghouta see the rebels being bussed out as Jahadi enemies…. and Syrian and Russian forces as liberators…..The Christian services this Easter morning in Aleppo totally ignored by BBC and mainstream media would not be possible if Russia had not helped in driving out the US and Saudi Arabia backed Sunni Jahadi….One of their goals was to rid Syria of all Christians and desecrate the Churches…..Most of the moderate rebels are really IS rebranded by CNN and the BBC….
@pc_comments: Do you reckon the Syrian civilians saw the SAA as ‘liberators’ when they rolled in with tanks to murder protestors in the streets? I suppose you’ve been on the ground surveying, have you?
Bit early for this nonsense.
@ihcalaM: Assad in a Middel East dictator no saint same as all the other middel.east dictators….They don’t tolerate rebellion in this case Sunni uprising….Bahrain crushed its similar Shia uprising with Saudi help.. ..However Saudi Arabia Qatar and Obama administration flooded Syria with advanced US weapons and Jahadi insurgents….Most of Assads army are Sunni and all the other communities Christian Druse Shia and Allowite support Assad….
@pc_comments: Right. More of the “he’s no saint” tripe.
That’s what they used to say about Saddam even after he exterminated tens of thousands of Kurds and others with chemical weapons. “He’s no saint”. That was glib in the 90s and it’s still glib now.
It seems like you have more contempt for John McCain and CNN than you do for a guy who has carried out a sustained slaughter of innocent Syrians. Funny, that.
@ihcalaM: Arm the dictator when they are useful, regime change when they are not. That is the way it’s done.
@Kieran Woods: The Assad regime from the beginning was always armed by the Soviets and now the Russians. Most of Saddam’s weapons were Russian too. One only has to look at most of the conflicts across Africa and the 99% of the light and heavy weaponry being used, is Russian made. Yemen the vast majority of weapons being used on the ground are Russian made. Western weapons are on the whole too expensive and harder to get.
@pc_comments:
So Assad ‘liberated’ the innocent civilians of East Ghouta by bombing the shit out of them, despite knowing (according to his own propaganda) that they were ordinary decent Syrians under occupation from foreign islamists??
Can’t have it both ways.
@Mick Jordan: Assad was indeed armed by the Russians just as the Saudi regime is armed chiefly by the US and UK. As I said, useful dictators are armed by their allies when they play ball, eliminated when they don’t. Iraq and Libya are examples of this, their leaders stopped doing what they were told and suffered the consequences.
@Kieran Woods: I dont believe the US are planning to or have ever tried to overthrow the Saudi Royal family. And Neither Iraq nor Libya were allies of the West. Saddam and Gaddaffi were armed and allied to, first the Soviet Union and then Russia.
@Mick Jordan: Why would the US overthrow the Saudi regime when it is carrying out its proxy atrocities in Yemen? Saddam was indeed armed by the west when the destabilising of Iran was required. Gadaffi was a western ally until he chose to ditch the petrodollar.
I guess since 68% 1.45mln) of Crimea’s population are Russian and 15.7% (344k) Ukrainian it was quite clear Crimea would vote in 2014 referendum to join Russia. Note, Crimean legislature declared independence in June 1992 but Kiev refused to allow the referendum to proceed.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimea
@gregory: But there was one small problem. As a sovereign part of Ukraine they were under the jurisdiction of the Ukranian Consititution. Which quiet clearly states that if an Oblast wishes to leave Ukraine it requires a 2/3 majority vote from all the other Oblasts in Ukraine. Now I am not aware of any such mandate. Are you?
@Mick Jordan: Right wing nationalists ousted Yanukovich and Ukr got a hardline right wing Govt. They banned Russian language even 9mln ethnic Russians in Ukr speak it. The Russians protested peacefully in Odessa and got hunted down/killed by right wing nationalist thugs (see live videos on internet). Billionaire Igor Kolomoiski sent his well tooled private army thugs to villages in the East rounding up/killing ethnic Russians-horrific but not on Irish news. After the bloodbath in Odessa ethnic Russians took to arms in the East. No wonder then Crimeans (68% Russian) wanted out of what they saw as a basket case Ukraine. The new Ukr Govt were breaking long held promises (language/culture etc). Would be like Ireland banning the English language overnight.
@gregory: Sorry but that is total BS. Yanokovich was impeached by the Ukranian Parliment on charges of Corruption and Theft of State assets. The MP’s voted unanimously to impeach him. Are you going to try and deny that he spent ten of millions of State Funds on his own private home? That when he fled to Russia he didn’t steal billions in state funds!!!
And of course we have this Russian myth of a Right Wing government. What party was in government when he was impeached? Wasn’t it his own party, the Party of the Regions?
And even when the new Parlimentry elections took place the only Right Wing Party in Parliment got less than 5% of the national vote. Russian Propaganda has a long history of ignoring actual fact and re-writing history to suit itself.
@gregory: Btw. The Russian language was never banned in Ukraine. In fact it is protected under the Ukranian Constitution. So that is more Russian lies you are attempting to spread. And Russian thugs were active in Eastern Ukraine long before anything happened in Odessa. Remember the supposed “Local Protesters” in Donesk that attacked the Local Municipal Library instead of the Government Building because they didn’t know which was which? Or the Russian soldiers that were on “Holiday” fully armed, in camouflage uniform, driving Armoured Personel Carriers when the got lost 30 miles inside Ukranian territory when they were captured.
@gregory:
Crimean ‘referendum’ was on March 16th, Odessa massacre didn’t happen until May 2nd. Just shows up more of your BS for what it is.
In fact if you want to be pedantic there’s a very strong case that the Odessa massacre might never have happened if Russia hadn’t invaded and annexed Crimea first.
As long as the mail order brides trade is not affected, it’s all good.
Russia defeated the Ottoman empire in 1783 and Crimea has been in Russian hands since. The Ottomans had burned down Mosvow (except the Kremlin) and use Crimea as a base for slave trade- more than 2mln Russian slaves were sold. The Ottomans with French and UK forces tried but failed to retake it (1853 to 1856). During WW2 Germany assisted by Romanian army managed to gain control. It took the Russians 3 years to re-take Crimea. Just google Crimea and read the history on Wikipedia.
@gregory: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimea
@gregory:
Whilst you’re on your history, why not learn a bit about Crimean Tatars and Russia’s treatment of them down the years…
@gregory: Then you will know that Khrushchev gave Crimea to Ukraine. All legal and above board. And for 50+ years and even after the break up of the Soviet Union Russia never sought the return of Crimea to Russia. For 20 years after Russia became a State on its own it did not seek Crimea. It was only after Ukraine said it would not renew the Russian lease on the Naval Base that Putin decided that Crimea belonged to Russia.
@Mick Jordan: On 19 February 1954, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a decree on the transfer of the Crimean region of the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR. No vote or referendum took place, and Crimean population had no say in the transfer. After the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, doubts have been expressed – from the Russian side by all means, but even by Western historians (Richard Sakwa, “Frontline Ukraine. Crisis In the Borderlands”, 2015) – about the very legitimacy of the 1954 transition of Crimea to Ukraine; in the critics’ view the transition contradicted even the Soviet law.
@gregory: Like it or not at that time the Soviet Union was recognised as one country. And if a country wishes to move it’s internal boundaries it is perfectly entitled to do so under international law. So the Soviet Union moved it’s internal Russian boundary giving Ukraine, Crimea. When the Soviet Union fell apart, Crimea was still part of Ukraine and recognised as such not only by the New Russian State but by International Law and the UN.
And to this day is still recognised as an occupied part of Ukranian territory by the UN and by the International Courts. Nobody but Russia and a small handful of its allies have accepted the illegal annexation.
@gregory:
The Russian SFSR consented at the time, making it lawful under USSR rules, so I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make (other than some convenient modern-day Russian revisionism).
@Mick Jordan: Intetnational Law does not allow the use of heavy military grade mortars, bombs from aircraft & Katusha rocket systems to be used on appartment blocks and houses against their own citizens. So, this hardline right wing bunch of lunatics have no legitimacy. It is quite incredible how much bombing by Kiev of innocent was not reported in Irish news. No wonder Crimea wanted out. Kiev should be pursued for war crimes against women, children and the elderly.
@gregory: When Did that happen in Crimea? We know it happened in Grozney. Even Russian TV covered that. And for Eastern Ukraine it would be happening on both sides if the Russians had invaded Eastern Ukraine in the first place.
@gregory: International law does not allow the shooting down of civil airliners, the bombing of apartments, murder of journalists, the use of nuclear isotopes or nerve agents to kill or wound perceived enemies including politicians, the pursuit and murder of vast numbers of civilians in a vicious counter insurgency where it is also illegal to record or report on casualties. Of course the héad of the worlds greatest kleptocracy would never dream of carrying out such actions.
@SteoG: there is no proof russia shot down any airliner.
@gregory: So the evidence and the conclusion of the International Investigation that stated that MH17 was shot down with a BUK missile Fired from a Russian Army Launcher in Russian backed terrorist controlled area, which was caught on video returning to Russia is all lies?
@gregory: There is proof. Of course the chief kleptocrat will not allow anyone to admit that.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist but the cynic in me thinks this hostility towards Russia, could be an attempt, by the EU, to push for an EU army and ever greater union.
@paul jones: And what do you think the EU would do with this Army. Invade Russia???? Or do you think Russia is likely to invade an EU country that is not a NATO member?
@Mick Jordan: All the talk in 2014 was russia will invade latvia lithuania ukraine etc. Clearly false. There has been strong push to budgets so this storyline was pursued in our media.
@gregory: And the only reason Russia hasn’t is because they are Members of NATO. So unless Russia wanted to start a war against all of NATO which it would have no chance of winning. And Putin knows if he starts a War with the West and loses he would be the first to be brought to the basement in the Lubyanka for his neck shot.
@gregory: And as for Ukraine do you really think the readers of the Journal are that stupid to believe there are no regular Russian Army fighting inside the borders of Ukraine?
Stupid decision to expel diplomat…
@Willy Malone: they should have used the word “suspended”. Doesn’t sound as harsh
@Willy Malone: Why? If they were acting outside their Diplomatic Brief ie: involved in espionage be it either industrial or security, then it was the right thing to do.
Grand..
@Paul Watchorn: beauty
Is that a good reason or the only reason for neutral Ireland to expel the Russian diplomat or indeed any other diplomat with whose country we have declining trade?Sounds like a poorly manufactured excuse to me!
@Gus Dennis: Was the Russian Diplomat acting outside their Official Brief by being involved in activities such as industrial espionage or security espionage? Both very good reasons to expel them.
@Gus Dennis: Looks like the Russians poisoned the spies with military grade porridge in the latest draft of this fable.
On the subject of trade with Russia, there are some strange things going on at Aughinish aluminium processing plant on the Shannon Estuary, and some of the locals are very concerned, and justifiably so, with the planning permission granted to the Rusal the owners of the site.
https://www.limerickpost.ie/2018/02/08/councillors-given-p45s-aughinish-planning-decision/
have your say