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LAST UPDATE | 18 Feb
TÁNAISTE SIMON HARRIS has said the government is “not at the point yet” of deciding whether Irish peacekeepers will have a role in Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters on the way into the Cabinet meeting this morning, Harris responded to a question about Irish troops potentially being deployed as peacekeepers in Ukraine.
“We’re not at that moment yet,” Harris said.
“Our Defence Forces have a very proud tradition of playing majorly important peacekeeping roles in very troubled and challenging parts of the globe,” the Minister for Defence said.
“What we should be very conscious of is, while lots of people are talking about wanting to bring peace to Ukraine, we’re still seeing Putin engage in acts of aggression and acts of sabotage on a daily basis on Ukraine, Ukrainian people and Ukrainian infrastructure,” he stressed.
“So the most important thing right now is to stop the war, but to stop the war in a way that is consistent with the UN Charter, with the territorial independence of Ukraine.”
The Journal reported last year that there could be a possibility of Irish troops being deployed on peacekeeping missions to the Balkan region or even to Ukraine should a peace deal with Russia emerge.
At the end of last year there was speculation among defence and diplomatic sources that if any peace deal in Ukraine were to emerge it may need a force to act as peacekeepers and take up positions along the frontlines in the east of the country.
It is unlikely to be a NATO force to achieve that due to tensions between Russia and the alliance but those sources believe that an EU force may be palatable to both sides.
Irish Defence Forces Comdt Liam McDonnell told The Journal that there are two regions of operations that Irish troops will probably be deployed into. The Middle East, so as to support operations in Lebanon.
“And within Europe, you’re looking at either the Balkans or recently now you could be looking at a deployment to Ukraine. However, that is not a soldier decision. It’s not a military decision, it’s a political decision,” he said.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said this week that he was willing to put “our own troops on the ground if necessary” in response to what he called “a once-in-a-generation moment for the collective security of our continent”.
People Before Profit’s Richard Boyd Barrett said he supports peacekeeping deployments that are ”genuine peacekeeping missions”, but added that he has genuine concerns peacekeeping morphing into “peace enforcement”, stating that “there is a big big difference”.
The Tánaiste’s comments on Irish peacekeepers comes as government is to provide Ukraine with an additional €50m in non-lethal military support next month.
The state will do this outside of the EU’s European Peace Facility mechanism, which has been hamstrung due to obstruction by Hungary.
Harris briefed Cabinet this morning about Ireland’s ongoing support for Ukraine during its full-scale invasion by Russia, the three-year anniversary of which falls next Monday.
The unilateral move to provide the €50 million worth of support comes as Ireland has struggled to fulfil commitments to provide €250 million in support to Ukraine under the EU-wide mechanism, while the Ukraine Assistance Fund remains blocked at EU level by Hungary.
To date, Ireland has paid €130m in support for Ukraine since the war began.
The Tánaiste told Cabinet that he believes Ireland needs to issue a strong statement of solidarity with Ukraine ahead of the anniversary of the full-scale invasion.
The move by Ireland to provide more aid outside of the EU mechanism comes in the wake of speeches by US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth in Europe last week, which shocked many EU leaders who support Ukraine.
Hegseth said that the US could no longer guarantee European security and also ruled out Ukraine joining Nato. The US comments have left EU leaders scrambling, with French President Emmanuel Macron hastily convening a meeting of fellow leaders yesterday.
US President Donald Trump held a “lengthy and highly productive” phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Wednesday, and US officials are due to meet Russian counterparts in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, today.
European leaders have expressed concerns that Ukraine may be frozen out of negotiations on how to end the war.
Meanwhile, Harris will travel to South Africa later this week to attend a meeting of the G20, where Ireland will be a guest country at the forum for the first time.
The G20 is an international economic forum that includes 19 individual nations, as well as the European Union and the African Union.
Want to know more about what’s happening in Ukraine and why? Check out our FactCheck Knowledge Bank for essential reads and guides to finding good information online.
With reporting by Christina Finn
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out of the 253 incidents, how many were carried out by foreign nationals?.
Are u taking the piss.
David, I don`t think Ando is taking the piss. This activity seems to be the exclusive domain of foreign nationals. I don`t know the set up, but a check of the stats will show you that nearly all of those caught at this ATM game are of Eastern European origin. That is not a racist remark, simply the facts.
How does it matter?
David, care to provide source of your statistics?
Maybe he asked Homer Simpson…. Seems to work for Danny.
Where you get your stats is a valid question…so where did they come from???
Do u not mean ando???
Plus I believe it was irish low lives that crashed a JCB into a shop and stole the whole ATM.
In 2006, I was at a seminar on ATM Security and Fraud.The speaker (Head of Security for a major Irish Bank) stated that 9 out of 10 devices found on machines were traced back to an Eastern European or Russian crime syndicate.We were informed that some of the devices, that are extremely high tech, are worth €250,000 euro each!Many of the guys who plant them on the machines have been people trafficked into Ireland and to repay their exorbitant travel costs, they must attach and collect data from ‘skimming’ machines!The other ‘skimming’ machines (1 in 10) that were found were far more crudely made and attributed to Nigerian crime outfits.
So going by what this guy told us, in 2006, 100% of ATM ‘skimming’ machines were foreign made and owned. Maybe this has changed and other nationalities (including Irish) have taken up what is a highly lucrative activity estimated to be worth anywhere between €3.5 and €10 million every year!
One word…Romanians
One word: Romani. Romanians and Romani quite difference, ignorant heads will never comprehend. In Romania there is lot of decent hard working people (in Ireland too), these are gypsies from Romania that give them bad name and awful presence all over the world.
@dirpaddy.. I have been to Romania and they are a lovely race of people who are sick to death of people like you who confuse them with Roma.. have you ever met a real Romania as opposed to a Roma? it’s very hard to spot a Romanian person a they just look continental.. of all the countries I have visited in Europe Romania was the biggest suprise, its a bit backward but the people are friendly charming and very kind.
Gents,
You should know well by now that you cannot say a word about anyone from abroad because you will be immediately accused of not being a happy-clappy multiculturalist.
That we all know the answer is not enough.
its simply not PC to talk about foreigners ( yes, there, I said it, the F word !!) and their involvement in anything, other than religious festivals and projects run by women with double-barrelled surnames
Ah come on The journal, ATM Machine? Really? Automated Teller Machine Machine? like pin number? pcb board?
@Brian @Ando
Yeah sure, everything bad in this country is because of foreigners. They steal your jobs, they steal from your atm’s, they steal your women, etc. etc. :-)
To be bit more serious, I doubt there are any statistics showing what you are suggesting, most likely these stats are nothing more than a product of your prejudiced imagination.
In fact there were few news in past year or two saying about some eat european gangs skimming ATM’s in Ireland, but I don’t think there is more info than just that. And reason for it is probably only that Irish thugs didn’t have technology that other thugs brought in, not that they were so noble they decided not to ever touch any ATM’s… You want to comment, get your facts right, otherwise you just create biassed lies.
@Derek Marten
OK, thanks for that info, but even knowing these facts, what difference that makes who they are?
If somebody can afford 250K worth skimming equipment, they are not average guys, but mafia.
I’ve googled couple other news from around the world about ATM skimming that took places all over the world, and indeed they quite often mention Bulgarian, Serbian and Russian involvement, whether that be USA or France or Ireland.
However these are clearly people not linked with any East European minorities living in Ireland or any other country, but they are professional criminal groups doing their “jobs” all over the world. Suggestions made here in couple comments were quite obviously made towards East Eur. immigrants leaving in Ireland like they were to blame. Believe me that east E.U. people bank accounts were robbed too, I doubt criminals were doing refunds for non English sounding names :P
have your say