Ukrainian Embassy Sought Details Of Ukrainian Refugees, FFG Confirms

On Tuesday 13th of October, People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy, in a parliamentary question posed to Minister For Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Minister Colm Brophy, questioned if his department received any request from the Government of Ukraine or their Embassy in Dublin for the contact details of men who are here under international protection. As well as if there was contact regarding people who have been informed that they are not eligible for international protection in Ireland (people likely due to be deported back). 

Deputy Murphy also asked Minister Brophy if he supplied the contact information or personal details of Ukrainians living in Ireland to Ukrainian authorities when asked. He also requested information on the data that was supplied if it was, and what categories of data. 

Minister Brophy confirmed that the Embassy of Ukraine requested details of all persons on temporary protection in Ireland back in February.  Minister Brophy claimed that this was in the context of preparing for post war elections. The minister however confirmed that the requested information was not supplied to Ukrainian authorities. 

“All applicants for temporary protection provide their personal details to my Department for the purpose of their application for temporary protection only and it would not be appropriate for me to share those details with a third party. 

Therefore, the request of the Ukrainian Embassy for this information was refused.” Minister Brophy stated. 

The Questions Hanging Over This, and PBP’s Principled Stance:

In spite of Minister Brophy's response, questions remain. 

Why is a country in a long drawn out, worsening war, already preparing for post war elections? There is no end in sight on the current trajectory, any decent analyst will tell you that. It's likely to be the worst, most prolonged war of the 21st century. 

I do not see a country that has to secure what staff and resources it has to fight the war, deploying state apparatus to prepare for an election to come after a war with no clear end date. It is undoubtedly a relief to the thousands of Ukrainian men in Ireland who do not want to or cannot fight in that war that their information was not passed on, but they are hardly in a safe position. 

The background data is also very askew in Minister Brophy’s framing, or the Ukrainian embassies framing to Brophy. 

The Trump administration pushed for elections in 2025 but the Ukrainian authorities refused and told the Trump administration that elections are impossible under martial law and that any elections would have to wait until well after the conflict ends.  

I am very glad to see Paul Murphy and People Before Profit taking a principled stance on this and asking the hard questions in the Dail even if, as of yet, they are not getting entirely satisfactory answers. We also at Aontacht appreciate their principled position of support for the communists imprisoned for opposing the war. 

Deputy Paul Murphy also had to pose the question back in September to Jim O’Callaghan if Irish migration officers were questioning Ukrainian men and women at the border on if they had completed military service, and refusing those who could not provide documents that they had. Minister O’Callaghan confirmed that Ireland was implementing EU Council Decision 2026/1912, Article 2, and the minister refused to instruct his department to stop the practice. 

It is worth noting that Hungary has refused to adopt the decision while “neutral” Ireland complies. 

In the face of all this, there is most likely going to be a new wave of Ukrainian refugees as the war worsens, infrastructure is being hit and the winter is closing in. As a matter of fact Zelenskyy warned 2 days ago that if Russia wins, 20 million more Ukrainians will have to flee to the rest of Europe, it would be unconscionable to cooperate as a neutral nation with the Ukrainian or Russian drafts. 

The Background: 

While Minister Brophy’s statement is accurate, it does not stand in a vacuum. It needs to be looked at through the lens of our wider management of the situation with Ukrainian refugees. 

• There are over 125,000 Ukrainians who have received temporary protection in Ireland. 94,000 of which have received accommodation support from the state. 
•  The government is seeking to wind down state contracted accommodation entirely. 
• Some reporting indicates that the government may be preparing a returns policy with financial incentives ranging from €2,500 per individual up to €10,000 per family, for ukrainians to voluntarily leave Ireland. 
• While the government refused to hand over the names and addresses, the government is seeking to reduce the number of ukrainians under our protection via separate policy architecture. 

This is mirrored by the approach on a European level. Europe now seems to have taken the tract of fighting Russia to the last son of Ukraine. 

• While the EU has agreed to extend the Temporary Protection Directive until March 2028 (also signaling that the EU does not believe there will be an end to the war to require elections either) 
• The EU has excluded newly arriving men of conscription age from the scheme. 
• As a matter of fact, Ukrainians arriving in the EU will now have to provide documentation from the Ukrainian government proving that they are exempt from service, or having a passport exit stamp proving they left Ukraine legally. 
• While this is an EU level decision not an Irish decision Ireland currently holds the European Presidency and it was publicly endorsed by the government, particularly by Minister Jim O’Callaghan. 
• There is also a class aspect, exemptions in Ukraine are purchasable. Border restrictions fall only on the working class. 

Some of our recent young, male, Ukrainian detractors might want to pay heed to this and perhaps consider donating to, instead of attacking the men imprisoned for their freedom on both sides of the conflict. 

Our fundraising links for Russian and Ukrainian anti-war political prisoners can be found here.