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PLANNING IS CONTINUING for the visit by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Ireland next week, but recent developments mean the government does not know if it will actually go ahead.
The Journal reported on 7 November that officials were working on a plan for the Ukrainian leader to come here, with early December earmarked as a possibility.
The two-day visit, understood to begin 2 December, would be a significant security event with thousands of gardaí expected to be on duty across the capital when Zelenskyy arrives.
However, negotiations for a peace deal for Ukraine may result in the visit to Ireland being postponed.
A senior source said “planning is carrying on” but the government doesn’t ”know either way yet” if the visit will take place.
The 28-point US proposal for the peace deal, proposed last week, has spooked Europe, as it provides Moscow with the opportunity to gain even more territory than it already occupies, with many in Kyiv and the EU seeing it as effective capitulation to Moscow.
US President Donald Trump has given Ukraine until 27 November, days before the Ireland visit, to approve his plan to end the nearly four-year conflict, which began after Russia launched a full-scale invasion.
Ukrainian, American and European officials met in Switzerland on Sunday after the proposals put forward were widely criticised as bowing to Moscow’s demands.
All sides claimed progress was made in negotiations in Geneva, with a joint statement calling them “constructive.”
“They reaffirmed that any future agreement must fully uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty and deliver a sustainable and just peace,” the joint statement said, noting “meaningful progress”.
All sides pledged to keep working on joint proposals “in the coming days.”
EU leaders held emergency Ukraine talks on the sidelines of a summit in Angola yesterday, with Taoiseach Micheál Martin in attendance.
Zelenskyy has visited Ireland previously as head of state. He addressed the Houses of the Oireachtas in 2022 and earlier this year the Taoiseach met the president in Shannon on a stop-over.
Ireland has offered non-lethal military support to Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in 2022, with the Taoiseach reiterating that Ireland is militarily neutral, but not politically neutral when it comes to the Russian invasion.
A total of 119,043 PPS numbers have been issued to beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine.
Of the 83,594 individuals which showed recent activity in administrative data, women and men aged 20 years and over made up 45% and 27% respectively of arrivals, while 28% were people aged under 20 years.
Of all arrivals, 17,282 beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine have enrolled in schools in the academic year 2025/26, with 59% of these in primary schools and the remaining 41% in secondary schools.
There has been a recent increase in people arriving in Ireland due to a change in Ukrainian policy allowing young men aged 18 to 22 to leave the country. Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said recently that if the numbers keep arriving at that scale, the government will have to start looking for more accommodation.
Earlier this month, a Cabinet committee meeting on migration agreed to cut the number of days that the State offers to new arrivals from Ukraine from 90 days to 30.
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