Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 to 11, inclusive, together.

The committee last met on 8 February. The meeting was attended by Ministers and senior officials from the Departments of Finance; Public Expenditure and Reform; Foreign Affairs and Trade; Justice and Equality; Health; Communications, Climate Action and Environment; Transport, Tourism and Sport; Housing, Planning and Local Government; and Defence. The next meeting of Cabinet committee F will be held next week. The role of Cabinet committee F is "to keep the State's systems for the analysis of, preparation for, and response to, threats to national security under review and to provide high-level [and political] coordination [among] relevant Departments and agencies on related matters".

In December 2018, Government published A Policing Service for the Future, the implementation plan of the report on the Commission on the Future of Policing. This is an ambitious but realistic four-year plan set out across four key phases, which will deliver a modern, highly professional, human rights-based police service.

Cabinet committee G provides political oversight of this programme of reform.

The Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland published its report in September 2018 outlining a clear vision and roadmap for strengthening An Garda Síochána and the broader national framework for policing, security and community safety. The commission’s recommendations include the establishment of a strategic threat analysis centre, STAC. In December 2018, the Government published A Policing Service for the Future, a four-year plan covering the years 2019 to 2022, to implement the commission’s report, including the establishment of the new centre. We have decided that the new centre will be renamed the national security analysis centre, but its role and functions will be based on the recommendations of the commission. Work is under way on the identification and securing of premises, the procurement of IT systems, and the staffing of the centre. I expect the post of director to be advertised this week.

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