While Ireland is not among the 14 EU states that decided to expel 32 Russian diplomats, the Government has announced that they will be expelling one Russian diplomat.

Yesterday both the EU and US announced that they would expel 80 Russian diplomats from both jurisdictions, 12 Russian officials will  be deported from the United Nations headquarters in New York.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Simon Conevey has said that: “the individual in question is required to leave the jurisdiction.”

Conevey claims that the decision was made following an assessment carried out by security services and relevant government departments. Which was carried out following the poisoning of former Russian agent, from Salisbury, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia.

Simon Conevey has made it clear that “the use of chemical weapons, including the use of any toxic chemicals, by anyone, anywhere, is particularly shocking and abhorrent.”

The British government has placed the blame heavily on Russia and their leader leader Vladimir Putin for the incident.

Dozens of countries including France, Italy, Germany and the US have expelled Russian diplomats in accord with the UK.

At a European Council meeting held last week, EU leaders agreed that the UK government’s assessment proves that it was highly likely that Russia was involved in that attack, and Micheal Conevey claims that there is ‘no plausible alternative explanation’.