In Part 2 of an exclusive two-part opposite editorial, Miceál O’Hurley delves into the spurious relationship between the Ukrainian Embassy in Dublin and pro-Russian Sinn Fein party that has taken to using Ukrainian refugees as scapegoats for its own domestic problems. He also examines an unusual donation to the Red Cross – an organization tainted for its activities in Russia – and yet more ill-judged photo-ops by Ambassador Larysa Gerasko, whose embassy (as described in part 1) has systematically ignored the needs of its temporary diaspora.
CORK – The situation of the temporary diaspora residing in Ireland under the EU Temporary Protection Mandate has become highly politicized. The coalition Government of Ireland recently faced a “No Confidence” vote introduced by Sinn Fein (Irish for – ‘We Ourselves’) – a nationalistic political party in Ireland with a long and indelible pro-Russian agenda.
Scapegoating of Ukrainians has become commonplace in political wrangling and there has been a marked shift from pro-Ukrainian rhetoric in Irish social media to an increase in anti-Ukrainian posts. Ukrainians in Ireland blame Ambassador Larysa Gerasko for failing to counter the trend and defend the Ukrainian community.
Ireland has suffered severe housing shortages, homelessness, drug dependency, gang violence and crime for the past decade. The drug problem, violence and murders have become so problematic that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has initiated an investigation and offered rewards for the capture and conviction of leaders of Ireland’s Kinnahan Drug Cartel.
For many, shifting the blame to Ukrainians as the prospects of a general election heat up is little short of xenophobia. That much of it comes from Sinn Fein, which has a long and unfettered pro-Russian stance, seems less than coincidental.
Sinn Fein, once the political arm of the outlawed Irish Republican Army, a paramilitary movement known for their anti-British bombing campaigns, torture, murder and killing of women and children in the name of freedom, has now emerged as a party poised to possibly gain a majority in an election and govern Ireland for the first time in over 100-years since they last formed a government.
According to polling, support for Sinn Fein is based upon the Irish electorate’s deep disillusionment with the traditional governing parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.
The Ukrainian Embassy’s close association with Sinn Fein is troubling for political watchers and pundits as well as parliamentarians. Despite its party leader Mary Lou McDonald being widely photographed with the former charge d’affaires of the Ukrainian Embassy Olena Shaloput raising money for the Irish Red Cross, and appearing in numerous photographs with Ambassador Gerasko, Sinn Fein voted against Ukraine obtaining Candidate status in the EU last month.
The disparity of high-ranking Ukrainian diplomats continuously being photographed with an anti-Ukraine party and its leader while the party enjoys a long-history of acting as apologists for Russia and admiring Russian President Vladimir Putin is at odds with European values and conventional wisdom.
Questionable donation
One particular event did raise 26,676 euros for the Irish Red Cross. However, it appears that through Shaloput, the embassy donated 11,750 euros of that amount themselves, artificially inflating the total attributed to Sinn Fein. Bolstering Sinn Fein in the media given their pro-Russian record and subsequent anti-Ukrainian comments and voting against Ukraine obtaining EU Candidate status raises questions about the embassy’s prudence and wisdom
The issue has also troubled charitable donors and organizations given the conduct of the International Red Cross in using funds intended for the benefit of Ukraine to establish aid centers in Rostov, Russia. These have been used to give “aid” to exiled Ukrainians forced to live in the Russian interior.
It is noteworthy that the Irish Red Cross has also been subjected to severe criticism by auditors. In one instance, it deducted more than 123,000 euros from donated funds for humanitarian appeals, as a “retrospective” administration charge during a period of financial pressure, a confidential audit has found.
The decision of the embassy to team up with Sinn Fein and the Irish Red Cross given their sordid histories has therefore resulted in hesitation by donors to support Ukrainian projects in Ireland.
There are also significant questions about the donation of 11,750 euros to the Iriish Red Cross attributed to Ms. Shaloput of the Ukrainian Embassy. It is uncertain if this was a personal gift and, if so, why the gift was not given directly to the benefit of Ukraine during a time of war. Asked for clarification prior to publication, neither Ms. Shaloput nor the embassy in Dublin responded or attempted to clarify the record.
The Irish Red Cross has a miniscule presence in Ukraine and the donation of 11,750 euros to such an organization with a reputation for skimming exorbitant administrative fees and with negligible involvement in Ukraine, all while benefiting Sinn Fein’s public reputation seems misguided.
According to accounting standard principles in Ireland, it is inappropriate to double-attribute funds raised through one fundraising channel to another, thus artificially inflating the amount of funds that appear to have been raised. Other political parties in Ireland have privately expressed concern about the matter.
Lack of judgment
The decision of Ambassador Gerasko to be photographed smiling next to McDonald at the opening of a Ukrainian film festival the week after Sinn Fein voted against Ukraine obtaining EU Candidate status has raised further questions about her personal judgment and whether she is aware she could be being used by Sinn Fein for domestic political purposes.
As one Irish parliamentarian observed: “The Ambassador and Ukrainian Embassy are being exploited like a prop in a publicity campaign where Sinn Fein hopes the public will confuse pictures of Mary Lou with a smiling Ambassador Gerasko as showing support for Ukrainians.”
The parliamentarian added: “Mary Lou hopes social media pictures with her and the Ambassador will work to blunt their very clear record of support for Russia and anti-Ukrainian stance. Our party and coalition partners have stood by Ukraine, voted to increase sanctions and taken it on the chin by generously welcoming Ukrainian refugees. We have made clear our support by our leaders visiting Ukraine.”
Referring to Sinn Fein’s affiliations, the parliamentarian continued: “Ask Sinn Fein when they plan to visit Ukraine to voice their support and be photographed with Zelensky and I think you will find it will never happen as they won’t risk losing their patronage from Putin and Moscow, alienate Assad or the other dictatorial regimes they are on record as supporting. Just visit the Sinn Fein bookshop and you’ll find more Marxist-Leninist propaganda, t-shirts, Red Stars and Che Guevara materials than you’d find in Red Square unless they’ve cleared their shelves the way they tried to delete their pro-Russia record from the internet.”
Last month, Sinn Fein was publicly accused of sanitizing their internet and social media posts praising Putin and Russia, and being critical of Ukraine. However, the posts can still be viewed in internet archive sites.
Scapegoating Ukrainians
Sinn Fein’s anti-Ukraine stance is not historic. Only last week, just after its leader McDonald was again photographed with Ambassador Gerasko, she defended one of her parliamentarians, Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn who took to Irish radio scapegoating Ukrainians living in Ireland. In a populist appeal for party support, he sought to draw Ukrainians into the debate about the Government’s handling of its own historic domestic problems:
“The Government was complaining about having to spend billions to help their own people in utter distress whose lives collapsed and with buildings collapsing around them in Donegal and the west… We help out refugees – every country does that around the world. But they were complaining about doing the same for their own people, and I think that’s stayed in a lot of minds and hearts and it goes to the core of what’s wrong with the approach of this government,” he told his local radio station.
Sinn Fein’s position immediately caused an outcry. Deputy Gary Gannon hit back saying, “…sowing division to highlight government failure is spectacularly unhelpful as well as utterly unacceptable.” According to Deputy Gannon: “Scapegoating and othering those seeking refuge here is not reflective of that call. We’ve seen that before and know too well how it ends.” He called on Mac Lochlainn to clarify or retract his comments. He did not.
Given former charge d’affaires Olena Shaloput’s gushing praise for Sinn Fein in March 2022 at a Red Cross fundraiser: “On behalf of the Ukrainian people and those of us at the embassy in Dublin, we thank you most sincerely for the care you have shown and the support you are so generously providing,” her words demonstrate just how seriously misguided such sentiments were.
Characterizing Sinn Fein as providing “care” and “support” run contrary to the record. Coupled with her superior’s numerous appearances with the pro-Communist, pro-Russian and pro-Putin McDonald, Ambassador Gerasko not only seems to have offended rank-and-file politicians across Ireland who have actively supported Ukraine in numerous ways only to see Gerasko serve as a “stage prop” for the Sinn Fein domestic propaganda machine, but in so doing she has lost the confidence of the Ukrainians who have had to seek refuge in Ireland.
The opinion article in the Irish Times on July 12 by Anne Harris only underscores yet again how out-of-touch Ambassador Gerasko and the Ukrainian Embassy are in continuing to cozy-up to Sinn Fein.
Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland. Irish Times. Photograph: Alan Betson
Concluding thoughts
As outlined in Part 1 of this article, deplorable Consular services and ignoring seriously wounded veterans for over-a-month, then claiming ignorance of their presence in Ireland, are serious failings that raise questions of competence and integrity.
For the temporary Ukrainian diaspora who continue to show sacrifice by sending money, equipment and vehicles to their husbands, sons and daughters serving as soldiers at the front, these are lapses that won’t soon be forgotten.
Still, it is having become intertwined with Sinn Fein, a political party that votes and speaks against Ukraine’s interests on a constant basis that beggars wisdom. It offends Ukrainians and alienates Irish politicians who have demonstrated steadfastness in support of Ukraine.
Reports of ignoring a Ukrainian refugee from the hell that was Mariupol while making time to accept a personal award for unspecified reasons seems misguided. Combine all this with the absence of effective Consular services while ignoring wounded Ukrainian heroes being treated in your own backyard and it becomes clear why the Ukrainians living under Temporary Protection provided by the EU have reached breaking point.
That all this occurs while continuing to create social media posts on personal and embassy sites including photographs at football matches, concerts, film openings and other social activities more akin to a socialite than a public servant at a time of war, severely diminishes the Ambassador and the embassy in the eyes of vulnerable Ukrainians in Ireland.
Photos with Sinn Fein’s President after her party voted against Ukraine’s EU Candidate status and her deputy’s blaming of Ukrainian refugees for Ireland’s domestic woes was for many Ukrainian patriots in Ireland who have sons, daughters and husbands fighting on the front lines a proverbial last straw.
At a time when Ukraine needs its faithful diaspora to remain steadfast, and not alienate elected supporters for the sake of an opposition party’s propaganda machine, such clumsiness if not callousness raises serious and fundamental questions about the embassy’s judgment, ability and leadership.
Issues of financial dealings with funds raised and choosing to support the Irish Red Cross which auditors lambast and the Irish Times described as engaging in “financial turmoil,” undermines the very confidence the public needs to continue to support Ukraine financially and politically over the long-term.
These are all self-inflicted wounds and un-forced errors. Alienating Ukrainians from their government in Kyiv during this time of national crisis is hardly what embassies are supposed to do and something which should not be ignored
The views expressed in this article are the author’s and not necessarily those of the Kyiv Post.
