Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is it. There should be no divisions on this issue. That does not mean we cannot acknowledge the horrific attack on 7 October on the people of Israel, and it does not mean we cannot also say that what is happening in Gaza is wrong and that we want it to stop, and that those war crimes should be and will be investigated.

It is a little rich to hear somebody from Sinn Féin talk about being on the wrong side of history. We only have to look to our own history in this country and see Sinn Féin's position on many of the atrocities that happened on this island. Rather than preaching to one another about those issues we should perhaps focus on being unified and call for a permanent ceasefire, first, to get aid into Palestine and also to bring an end to the killing. Unity is our greatest strength, not division.

Senator Craughwell raised the deputy Garda commissioner role – the head of intelligence. He knows my views on this. I am 100% in agreement with him. It is right and proper that the head of intelligence in this State, a person who has access to witness protection information and information on informants and who engages with international police bodies would be a citizen of the State. That should be a basic requirement. I do not even think we should interview persons who do not meet that basic criterion. We have already heard from heads of security and security experts in the US and the UK and other countries. They would not even entertain such a suggestion and I do not know why we are not doing the same. We cannot take a Mickey Mouse approach to our national security. Those days are over. We know that our geography will no longer protect us. We are a member of the European Union. We are home to the headquarters of many of the biggest tech companies in the world. We have the transatlantic cable coming in to Ireland as well for the transfer of data. We must take State security seriously. There can be no suggestion that the person who would have access to all of that information would have an allegiance to any state other than our own. That is not racism or unreasonable. It should be standard practice.

It is concerning that no senior member of An Garda Síochána has applied for the role. We do not yet know the status of the recruitment process, which I understand closed just shy of two weeks ago. We await more information on it. I have also been contacted by very experienced people who work in that space, and they share the same concerns. I hope a resolution can be found. I would rather that the recruitment process would take a little bit longer so we can facilitate the right person applying for it. I know there are issues relating to the pension cap that must be addressed. Senator Doherty has raised that on a number of occasions. If that is all that is in the way then surely we can resolve it. This is a live and ongoing issue. We will seek a debate on it. Other debates have been requested as well that would probably come under the Department of Justice. We will request a debate specifically on that matter. At this stage it will likely be in the new term given the short number of weeks left and the amount of legislation that we have to get through. We will seek to get the debate scheduled. I will put in a request now to have the debate in the new term.