Leinster House authorities are to seek feedback on the handling of the visit by Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelenskiy amid criticism from some TDs over tight security measures.
The visit was discussed on Thursday morning at a meeting of the Dáil’s Business Committee, which handles the agenda of the house.
The office of Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy has now written to party whips seeking feedback, which will be considered at a debriefing meeting with her next Tuesday.
Fine Gael TD for Cavan-Monaghan, David Maxwell, told The Irish Times he was initially unable to access his office on Monday before he was escorted in to retrieve some items and then had to leave the complex.
RM Block
While TDs and Senators were present for Mr Zelenskiy’s address to the joint houses of the Oireachtas, their staff were required to work from home, with tight security in place for those permitted onto the Leinster House campus, including media.
The matter was also raised at the Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday evening.
Mr Maxwell said deputies from other parties have raised concerns with him. “Listening to other deputies it was way over the top what happened on Monday and Tuesday,” he said, adding that “a lot of people are unhappy with the way things were handled”.
He said he would not “like to see this being used as a template for future visits”.
“We’re all screened, we’ve all passes, to deny us entry - I wouldn’t like to see that going forward.”
TDs said they were only informed on Saturday that there would be no access to Leinster House for their staff on Monday and Tuesday.
While there was an acceptance among TDs of the special security requirements to protect Mr Zelenskiy, who Ukrainian authorities say has been the subject of many assassination plots, they also privately complained about an “overly security sensitive” approach.
“We’re losing our grip on how the houses are being run, run by officialdom rather than the people elected,” said one Fine Gael TD. A Sinn Féin TD said there were concerns about the level of security and the inability of staff to access their work for two days.
However, Labour’s Duncan Smith said there was a “low level of inconvenience” within the Leinster House complex that was “well within tolerance and totally understandable considering we were hosting a wartime president”.
The visit led to major traffic curtailments around the capital as Mr Zelenskiy travelled between Áras an Uachtaráin and Government Buildings. A security cordon was in place around Leinster House and Government Buildings, with tight screening of those admitted to the secure “bubble”.
[ Irish-trained Libyan troops appear in Russia fearing deployment to UkraineOpens in new window ]
