Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

In the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks, the Government reviewed security arrangements, particularly in respect of military intelligence. Consequently, in the past three or four years, provision for military intelligence has been substantially increased. The numbers of Army staff engaged in such work has increased substantially in the past three or four years.

The sum of €800,000 to which Deputy Timmins refers is misleading as it only constitutes an extremely small element of the total expenditure on military intelligence. As for the Deputy's question on whether I would consider asking those involved in military intelligence to co-operate with the Garda, the latter force has primary responsibility for security in the State. However, military intelligence personnel work well with the Garda.

The Director of Military Intelligence reports to me as Minister at least once a month. He also reports to the Chief of Staff and the Deputy Chief of Staff on the support side of the Army. In turn, the Chief of Staff reports to the National Security Committee, of which he is a member. The role of military intelligence has expanded, particularly in respect of any potential threat from the Middle East or from Islamic terrorists. For reasons Members will understand, I cannot go into too much detail in this respect. However, I assure them that resources devoted to military intelligence have increased substantially and the figure of €800,000 is misleading in terms of the total expenditure on military intelligence.

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