Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I can provide the full report for Members as I am sure they would like to read through all of it. We have carefully considered whether to recommend the creation of a separate agency with powers going beyond analysis and intelligence co-ordination to include, for example, the capability to develop its own intelligence sources, such as the security service in the United Kingdom, or even full police powers such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States. We are not convinced that this is either necessary or realistic at the present time. Whether or not a separate agency will be an option at some point in the future, we believe it is vital now that security intelligence should be co-ordinated outside the police or any other individual agency or Department, hence the recommendation for a strategic threat analysis centre under the Department of the Taoiseach. That is what has been established.