Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister asked where the gap is. I was not suggesting that she put into primary legislation something to the effect that somebody from An Garda Síochána should be appointed, although that is what I think. We have to consider people serving in our police force for the head of intelligence.

The reason we had this conversation in the Chamber is that if ever this were to be looked at in terms of the intention of the legislation and the Minister, the debate in this House and the other House will be read to determine what was intended. The reason I asked questions during the debate around suitability for the role was to draw out what we mean by the term "suitability" and put on the record that I think people are not suitable for the role if they are coming from an external police force and are charged with national security intelligence services. That is the conversation we needed to have.

The Minister is the person in the job at the minute, and I sought to make these points in the context of overall policy changes in the Department and how we do policing. The issue of national security has not been taken seriously enough and people in the sector have said we need to have a greater focus on this. We want to ask the Minister to examine that when the Bill has concluded and do a little bit of work on the whole area of national security and intelligence. It has been left to the side.

My fear is that we will wait for something to happen before we react, as we often do. We need to listen to people who have expertise in this area who have said that what we are currently doing is not sufficient and we are not taking things seriously enough. There is an opportunity under this section to make that point. The current role lies with the deputy Garda Commissioner.However, I take the point. I am not suggesting that the section needs to be amended in any way, more that we have the intention behind it on the record.