TRADE UNION SIPTU has called on the government to turn away a cargo ship carrying Russian oil that is due to land in Dublin Port tomorrow.

The union is asking Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and Dublin Port’s chief executive Eamonn O’Reilly to prevent the STI Clapham from landing.

The oil tanker is carrying a cargo of oil from Russia and is scheduled to stop in the port tomorrow.

In a statement, Siptu Divisional Organiser Karan O’Loughlin, said that “given the unfolding horror in Ukraine as the invasion by Russian forces aggressively proceeds, our members and other workers who are expected to unload this vessel are angry and upset at being put in this position”.

“While a range of different sanctions are being rolled out across the EU against Russia, the Government needs to speak up on humanitarian grounds and turn this vessel around. It is unconscionable to accept this cargo in the present circumstances,” O’Loughlin said.

Ireland is a militarily neutral country but that does not mean we cannot help the victims of this unjust and unnecessary war by extending our solidarity in other ways.

“The Minister for Defence, Simon Coveney, has insisted that Ireland, on a humanitarian level, is not neutral in this war so how can the Government accept this cargo in all good conscience,” she said.

“Dublin Port is wholly owned by the State so the Government has the authority to refuse entry for this vessel.

“Workers should not be expected to carry the weight of circumstances such as these and are urgently calling on the Government and the Dublin Port company to ensure the STI Clapham is prevented from landing its Russian oil cargo in Ireland.”

The STI Clapham carries a Marshall Islands flag but started its journey in Vysotsk, a Russian port, with around 33,000 tonnes of diesel. It is chartered by Russian-owned oil company Litasco.

The Port of London authority allowed the tanker to dock in the River Thames this week – the second vessel chartered by Litasco, a Russian oil company, to dock in the UK even after it introduced sanctions banning ships connected to Russia.