Ireland is a ‘playground’ for Russian intelligence, says former army chief, Name the Politician?

Comment follows claim Kremlin recruited member of parliament to damage UK-Irish relations during Brexit talksIreland is a “playground” for Russian intelligence, a former deputy chief of an Irish army unit has said following claims that a member of parliament was recruited by the Kremlin to undermine Anglo-Irish relations during Brexit talks.

Cathal Berry, now a Teachta Dála (TD, member of the Irish parliament), said he had not been surprised by a report at the weekend that the unnamed politician had been recruited “as an agent of influence” in a honeytrap operation.

“If you are looking to affect a western country with extensive assets and a poor security culture then Ireland is ground zero,” Berry told the Irish Times. “Here the Russians get maximum impact for minimum effort. It is a playground for them.”

According to the report in the Irish Sunday Times, the aim of the operation was to build contact with loyalist paramilitaries at a time of sensitive discussions with the UK about whether there would be checks on the Irish border or not.

The reported mission ties in with wider hybrid warfare efforts identified by the EU which it says can involve anything from disinformation to suspected arson and antisemitic attacks.Russia has written the manual on hybrid operations, misinformation, disinformation, cyber-attacks, anything that’s deniable or that’s very difficult to attribute to them,” said Berry, a former second-in-command of the Irish Ranger Wing and now an independent TD for Kildare.

According to the newspaper, the Irish military and security services identified the potential agent, code-named Cobalt, but he remains in office. There is no apparent evidence of him having being paid or having passed information to the Russians. He has not been arrested or charged.

The opposition TD Richard Boyd Barrett has called for action by the authorities. “I think anybody who has been corrupted by any external power rather than serving the interests of ordinary people has a serious case to answer,” he said.