On Friday the Irish Government, against some of their own parties TD's and opposition parties calls, decided not to expel Russian ambassador to Ireland Yury Filatov.

Today Simon Coveney is meeting with other EU members, the explusion of Ambassadors in EU countries is on the table for discussion.

On Saturday evening, nearly 40 Fianna Fail TDs, senators and MEPs signed a petition calling on Mr Filatov to be ejected from Ireland.  The chair of the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee and senior Fine Gael TD Charlie Flanagan also tweeted a call for the ambassador to be forced to leave Ireland.

According to the Sunday Independent, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney told the paper that he expects Ireland to expel some Russian diplomats as part of the next set of EU sanctions, but will stop short of expelling Ambassador Mr Filatov.

Photo of Yury Filatov by Niall Carson/PA) (PA Wire)