The Workers’ Party have condemned Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s suggestions that Russian diplomats be expelled from Ireland.

Workers’ Party Dublin Northwest representative Gavin Mendel-Gleason said:
“Tory governments have never hesitated to lie and mislead the Irish government in relation to security affairs. Collusion and cover ups relating to the troubles continue to come to light even today. This is without even going into the still-ongoing war in Iraq which was started on the basis of fictional evidence.

“So, for our Taoiseach to so quickly run to the defence of a Tory Prime Minister shows just where Varadkar’s priorities lie. Just as in his back-slapping meeting with President Trump last week, he is far more interested in pithy press statements than in substance or leadership.

Mendel-Gleason continued:
“However, the stakes in this case are not inconsiderable. May and her government are warmongering – let there be no mistake about it. And Varadkar is helping her stir the pot. This at a time when even the leader of the opposition in the UK has publicly stated that no direct evidence of Russian government complicity in the murder has yet been brought to light.

“The reality is that reasoned commentators have highlighted as very unlikely that agents of the Russian State would decide to carry out such an attack with a nerve agent which could allegedly be so easily traced back to their own country. One would have to be very naïve or as sycophantic as Mr Varadkar to not consider that other international actors, invested in fostering confrontation between Russia and other States, would not have a motive of being involved in this incident.”

Mendel-Gleason concluded by pointing to the diplomatic double standards that Varadkar’s comments expose:
“Even when a full-blown conspiracy surrounding the use of fake Irish passports by Israeli security agents was exposed, the Israeli ambassador retained full diplomatic credentials. For Varadkar to suggest expelling Russian diplomats on the basis of highly dubious Tory allegations is total hypocrisy.

“The Republic of Ireland once had an independent foreign policy. It would seem that Varadkar is intent on returning us to dominion status and outsourcing decisions on our international positions to his ideological bedfellows in Washington, Brussels and London. The more we see, the more he is exposed as an embrassing showman rather than a serious political figure.”