During the Brexit talks, Russian intelligence successfully recruited an Irish politician, codenamed “Cobalt,” through a honeytrap operation, aiming to exploit tensions between Britain, Ireland, and the EU. Despite being identified by Irish military and security services, Cobalt remains active in parliament and has yet to face legal consequences. Cobalt met with Sergey Prokopiev, a Russian spy, and allegedly offered to connect the Russians with Northern Ireland paramilitaries, furthering Moscow’s destabilization efforts. While no direct payments were made to Cobalt, his internet history and travel patterns were used for kompromat. Russian intelligence viewed Cobalt as a useful, easily influenced figure to disrupt public debate and promote Kremlin interests during a critical political period.

I suspect it’s a Seanadóir the way they keep saying “member of the Oireachtas” because if it was a TD they’d say that.