Mr. John Devitt:

I will start by encouraging people to reflect on what is the purpose of an intelligence service. In the United Kingdom, the services are separated into MI5 and MI6. There is also GCHQ, which is responsible for data monitoring, and then police forces have responsibility for terrorist intelligence and other criminal intelligence. I am unsure whether Ireland needs a foreign intelligence service. We do not need spies in our embassies overseas. In general, we get whatever information we need from friendly police forces and intelligence services anyway. I am unsure what purpose would be served by establishing a separate intelligence agency here. What would it monitor that G2 in the Defence Forces or the crime and security branch in the Phoenix Park are not already doing? To my mind, the purpose of an intelligence service, particularly in a country as small as this with few foreign commercial and economic interests, is to prevent crime and physical threats to the State. I do not wish to have, nor would I support the establishment of, an intelligence body that would scrutinise the private affairs of Members of the Oireachtas or members of the media or civil society, as have other intelligence agencies, which gather details on every aspect of the private lives of such individuals.