An Independent Senator has insisted that the appointment of the next head of the Irish intelligence service must be an Irish national.
The comments came after earlier this year, no senior Garda officers applied to fill the role of Deputy Garda Commissioner, which is the second-highest policing role in the Irish State. Its jobs include monitoring and preventing organised crime, including terrorism, both foreign and domestic.
The Government has been strongly criticised because no serving senior garda officer has applied for the role of deputy garda commissioner https://t.co/GkQADqdkhh
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) November 8, 2023
As a result of no senior Gardaí applying, applications were opened to law enforcement officers from around the world, including potentially from states such as China or Russia. Most of the applications are understood to have been from UK police services and the PSNI.
Speaking on the matter, Craughwell said he was “surprised” that the appointment was continuing under these circumstances.
“Former colleagues from the UK have contacted me and they cannot believe that we would even consider the appointment of a foreign national,” he said.
Senator Gerard Craughwell – speech from 29 Nov
Order of Business
This video is prepared by VideoParliament YouTube Channel
Source: https://t.co/sQTsKxYNiDThis channel is NOT associated with The Houses of the Oireachtas although
this video is © Houses of the Oireachtas. Any pic.twitter.com/mLtopLtFsO— VideoParliament Ireland (@videoparliament) November 29, 2023
“By the way, those who came in here and accused me of racism, etcetera, because I objected to a foreign national taking the most senior intelligence post in the country have yet to apologise. It was an outrageous allegation to make against me.”
At this point Craughwell was loudly interrupted by Senator Paul Gavan, who asked: “On a point of order, is Senator Craughwell saying that foreign nationals were objecting to a foreign national?” He was then told not to interrupt by the Leas-Chathaoirleach.
Continuing, Craughwell said that “the bottom line” is that “we really have to think about what we are doing.”
“The person who will take over intelligence in this country will have access to information on all of us, on past deeds in this country and on those who were involved in various different things down through the history of this country,” he said.
“Micheál Martin, in the Dáil the other day, said that the person appointed would be appointed under normal appointment conditions and would have to take an oath to the State, etcetera.”
He added: “For God’s sake, I ask the Government Senators to talk to their parties. One cannot have a foreign national heading up the Irish intelligence service.
“Would the British take a Frenchman to head up MI5? Would the Americans take an Englishman to head up the CIA? It would not happen. I ask that the Leader organise a debate on security in this House in order that we can get to the core of it.”