Paul Murphy asks if fleeing conscription qualifies for asylum

I want to raise with the Taoiseach some issues that flow from that briefing we held yesterday with a group of Russians known as the Free Russians Ireland. These are people who are steadfast in their opposition to the authoritarian Putin regime, who are completely opposed to Putin's invasion of Ukraine and who are calling for peace, including for Ireland, to facilitate peace talks. One of the things they spoke about was the repression that anti-war activists in Russia have faced, maybe 20,000 people around who have been arrested, a lot of whom literally arrested for holding up blank pieces of paper, including many of their friends. These are Russian citizens living in Ireland now, and many of them fear they are going to be forced to go back to Russia, to a regime that they are on record publicly as opposing, now speaking in the parliament against the Putin regime. Will the government accept that fleeing conscription from Russia should be grounds for asylum being granted to people like Russia? And we will, of course, consider any application for asylum on its merits. They are all considered individually. My understanding is that people refusing or fleeing conscription is taken into account in asylum applications, but it is not in itself an automatic guarantee that you are granted refugee status. Thank you.