Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to focus on the security of the State in the light of some of the comments made last week after the horrific bombing in Manchester. It would be extremely naive to think this country would not possibly be the site of an attack. We must have a proper debate about these matters. To put it bluntly, the notion that there is a secret committee examining and hearing about threats to the State is fine, but there must be some democratic exchange about these matters, either through a committee of the House or the briefing of leaders. Some mechanism must be found. We have moved into a new space. For example, have efforts been made to assess the number of people moving from conflict zones back to Ireland? How do we identify such persons? Are they monitored in Ireland?

During my period in government I recall that when I introduced Estimates, there was always a Secret Service Vote. It was a matter of conjecture what that Vote was. It was always for a token sum of €1 million, a relatively small sum of money. Do we have a Vote for a proper intelligence service? To pick up on the last question asked by Deputy Gerry Adams, the last time we held this discussion in the House I raised the need for a separate intelligence security unit. There are two reasons, one of which is that we are now in a different space or paradigm. Second, cyber security is an area into which we must put effort and resources. We saw what happened - I am not saying it was a cyber attack -- when there was a breakdown in a computer system at British Airways which crippled that enormous company worldwide. Are we protected against cyber attacks? We must have such capacity, but I am not sure we have. Will the Taoiseach give his views on the matter?

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