Details of Irish and EU sanctions against Russia to be confirmed today - Donohoe

Details of EU and Irish sanctions against Russia will be confirmed later today (Wednesday February 23) the Finance Minister has indicated.

Paschal Donohoe said that he understood the concerns of business, as the EU, UK and the US begin to impose punitive sanctions on Russia following the serious escalation of the crisis in Ukraine.

The sanctions come after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into separatist regions of Ukraine, prompting fears about a full-scale invasion of the independent country. 

Mr Donohoe said that full details of the EU sanctions would be announced this afternoon. 

“An element of that will be to break and challenge the links between the finance and capital markets of the European Union and Russia. So there will be elements of that that will be included in the package of measures that will be confirmed by the European Union later on today,” he said.

Asked on RTÉ radio about the role of Ireland in the sanctions package, he replied: “If a country has a large financial services sector, and values that and we do here in Ireland – it’s a really big employer in the Irish economy – that does mean that we’ve international capital and international money in Ireland and, yes, there is indeed a level of Russian capital traded in and out of our IFSC [International Financial Services Centre].”

He said that the Government has already changed the law on tax, while also updating anti-money laundering legislation, in response to concerns. 

Mr Donohoe said that a war in Europe would have a detrimental impact on the Irish and European economy.

However, he once again ruled out further measures to tackle the rising cost of living before the October Budget, even if energy prices rise due to the crisis in Ukraine.

The Irish Finance Minister said that he knew that companies were concerned about the impact of sanctions on business.

“I think it’s very understandable for companies that are involved in sectors that have particular links with either exports or imports that come from Russia, or go to Russia, are of course concerned about what a war or sanctions could mean,” he said.

“If you look at where our economy stands overall, our exports to Russia are approximately 1% of our national income. Our imports from Russia are approximately 0.5% of our national income. But inside that 0.5%, there are sectors that do have a little bit more of a reliance on Russia than other sectors would.

“It’s understandable that they would raise concerns regarding what could happen, but we are making these decisions inside the context of the security and the ability of states to determine their own future being threatened by unacceptable and illegal behaviour.

“And Ireland does need to be part of the response to that.”