Gardaí back proposed new security structure proposed by Policing Commission

The S&I section is also happy with the new national security layer, with a new strategic office, into which the Gardaí and other agencies will feed intelligence into for analysis.

This office, details of which were revealed by the Irish Examiner last week, will be headed by a national security co-ordinator, reporting to the Taoiseach.

The Commission said it had “considered carefully” whether or not security should be removed from the gardaí, but said it was not convinced it was either “necessary or realistic”.

The report also said: “Whether or not a separate agency will be an option at some future point, we believe that it is vital now that security intelligence should be co-ordinated outside the police or any individual agency.”

The commission recommends a Strategic Threat Analysis Centre (Stac), based within the Taoiseach’s department.

It should have a “small permanent staff”, supplemented by personnel from An Garda Síochána, the Defence Forces, and the Departments of Justice, Foreign Affairs, and Communications.

It will produce regular threat analyses, long-term threat assessments, develop intelligence-gathering requirements, and “guide” the intelligence collection of agencies.

The co-ordinator should have the “authority” to convene inter-agency meetings to develop threat assessments for the Taoiseach and “synchronise” national security strategy. The National Cyber Security Centre, in the Department of Communications, should now report to the co-ordinator.

The report said the intelligence gathering capacity of An Garda Síochána “must be strengthened”, in particular by means “of a ring-fenced budget provision and the ability to recruit specialist expertise — analytical, technological and legal — directly and quickly”.

The report said “this was a matter of urgency” given the “serious” risks posed to the State from terrorism and organised crime.

A senior garda said the force was “happy” with the emphasis on boosting the security service and said the ringfenced budget was key, providing not just financial independence but greater “operational independence”.

S&I will have the funding and sanction to hire people – like the Criminal Assets Bureau does – and have its own training budget.

The funding it sets aside to its own surveillance activities and operations would no longer be capable of being diverted for other reasons.

S&I hope it will also be able to make a business case for capital funding, such as building a cyber security unit or investing in surveillance technology.

The report sees cyber security as dealing with cyber attacks on critical infrastructure, the theft of secrets or the contamination of the democratic process.

The garda source said the coordinator may give strategic direction, but has no power to “direct” operations, which remains within the Assistant Commissioner Security and Intelligence and the Commissioner.