Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said the security briefing he received from the Garda Commissioner on the four senior Russian officials that have been told to leave Ireland concerned him.
A senior security source told the Irish Mirror that the four diplomats are suspected of spying.
The source said: “The Government came extremely concerned about spying activities and decided to act.”
READ MORE: Suspected Russian spies ordered to leave Ireland amid 'extreme concerns' about security
Speaking to the Irish Mirror on Wednesday, Mr Martin said the four officials will be given a few days to leave the country.
He said: “We wouldn’t have taken the decisions we took if it didn’t concern us, it did.
“I take very seriously the presentations I received from the Garda Commissioner, the chief of staff so we’re very clear that the reasons were well founded for doing this and under the Vienna Convention and on the basis that the activities of these individuals was not in accordance with international standards of diplomacy.
“I think people can read various things from that.
“But fundamentally there was a security premise underlying the decision.”
When asked why the Irish Government, unlike other EU countries, has not said explicitly why the four Russian officials have been asked to leave, Mr Martin said “we don’t divulge security information of that kind.”
He said the four Russian officials that are suspected of spying will have to leave Ireland “within days.”
He said: “We did have a security briefing in relation to these four individuals but also in relation to the general situation, pertaining to activities and so forth and that’s the..we don’t divulge security information of that kind.
“Within days [they have to leave] but they will be given time to organise for personal [reasons] and then leave the country.
“There is a standard time, within a week, that would happen.”
Speaking in the Dáil on Tuesday while revealing the news, Mr Martin said: “I do not want to divulge the particulars of the security briefing we received in respect of these individuals but in my view, it is the correct and the right decision in terms of our own national security but also in terms of sending a very clear message about our abhorrence of the war in Ukraine.”
A statement from the embassy of the Russian federation in Ireland hit back at the Government’s decision.
It read: “The Embassy of Russia in Ireland has been informed by the Department of Foreign Affairs of Ireland of the decision by the Government of Ireland to request that four members of the diplomatic staff of the Embassy leave Ireland shortly, because allegedly their actions have been found to be unacceptable.
“The Embassy rejects such qualifications of the work of our diplomats.
“This is arbitrary, groundless decision which can only deteriorate further Russian-Irish relations, already damaged by the Irish participation in illegitimate EU sanctions against Russia.
“The Embassy proceeds from the assumption that such a step by the Irish side will not go unanswered.”
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