Gardaí have compiled a list of members of the Oireachtas and other people, including those in academia, they believe have been targeted by Russians in Ireland seeking to exploit them for information gathering and destabilising the State.
One member of the Oireachtas was allegedly contacted by personnel attached to the Russian embassy during Brexit, according to a report in the Sunday Times.
Sources said other similar approaches were made around the same time, and in the period since, by Russia to Oireachtas members, through third parties, in a bid to begin the process of building relationships with them. Though it is thought the majority of these approaches were rebuffed some are believed to have resulted in meetings with the third parties who initiated the contact.
The sources said some of those targeted likely believed they were being approached for business or consultancy reasons, though the end goal was to compromise them for the purposes of being exploited.
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Allegations of a Russian asset operating inside the Oireachtas were first investigated following a tip off from UK intelligence services several years ago. However, the investigation by J2, Ireland’s military intelligence branch, established nothing of substance following this initial step. It is not clear if further investigations have taken place in the interim.
At the time the Oireachtas member at the centre of the Sunday Times reports was warned several times by the Garda he was effectively the target of Russian grooming – though he broke no laws. A Garda list of other Oireachtas members had been compiled as having been approached.
Political and security sources said on Monday that influence operations targeting high-profile people in politics, business or other spheres are often conducted under the guise of ordinary diplomatic or political engagements, but can be escalated by the use of compromising material or monetary incentives.
On Monday Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said the identity of the politician concerned should be revealed. Speaking to reporters Mr Ryan said it was a “very significant allegation”.
“If that was the case, obviously, it is a real concern, and a real security concern if you have a member of the Oireachtas acting in such a way,” he said. “It’s very hard to know how that person could be identified. That is something that would benefit the rest of us so that the suspicion doesn’t go on the entire Oireachtas. But legally, obviously, that has to be done, so we have to wait and see how the allegations made can be verified.”
Mr Ryan said he has never been approached by anyone connected to the Russian government. “I heard [Aontú leader] Peadar Tóibín saying that he had been approached by the Russians ... that was the first I was aware of that.”
In the aftermath of the report Taoiseach Simon Harris said nobody should be surprised by Russian attempts to influence and distort public opinion in Ireland.
Earlier Mr Tóibín called on Irish political parties to audit their members to see if anyone has received potential contact from Russian intelligence after revealing he was offered a trade trip to Moscow and an audience with president Vladimir Putin in 2017.
As a then-member of Sinn Féin, Mr Toibin received the approach via a consultancy company in a number of phone calls but did not attend.
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