Sir, – The Government is to be applauded for the decision to expel four Russian diplomats (News, March 29th).
But what about the rest? – Yours, etc,
PHILIP O’REILLY,
Dublin 6.
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Sir, – Surely now is the time for Ireland to immediately expel the vast majority of the 31 Russian embassy staff in Ireland. Before the Russian war, Ireland did less than €800 million in bilateral trade with Russia. The UK’s trade with Russia was over 18 times larger but Russia seemed to manage with only 45 diplomats in the UK. It does run the risk of Russia taking countermeasures, but so what? We do a similar amount of trade with Finland with only five staff, and do more than eight times more trade with Switzerland than we do with Russia, with only five staff in Bern. So a good guideline would be to allow no more than five Russian diplomats in Ireland, at least until Putin is removed from power. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL
CUNNINGHAM,
Dublin 18.