A demand was issued last night, August 4, to expel Russian diplomats, after a senior Garda revealed Russia is spying on Ireland and attempting to spark unrest and anger here.
Garda Assistant Commissioner Michael McElgunn, who is in charge of the unit for State security, claimed that some "states are involved in spying activities on sovereign soil with malign intent."
He said the nations which are spying are attempting to create mistrust of Ireland, both domestically and internationally.
Mr. McElgunn explained the intent is to "influence, create distrust in Government and support extremist groups within a state with that same end goal in mind.
"They will involve themselves in trying to steal secrets from the State, or steal secrets from industry within the State which undermines the reputation of a country."
Mr. McElgunn said: "That activity is of concern, we closely monitor individuals who we believe to be involved in that activity.
"We work very closely internationally in that regard because a lot of these hostile state agents will move and we work with our colleagues to have an understanding of who might be in our state from time to time and to manage entry in and out of the state by people of that nature."
Mr McElgunn said he was "cautious in what he said" because Ireland maintained diplomatic relations with the countries.
"However, if we look at the [2018 poisonings] in Salisbury in the UK, if we look at other events there, if we look at events in Europe and we look at the Russian Federation invasion of Ukraine, I don’t think too many will be surprised if I were to say Russia is one of these states."
Former deputy head of the Army Ranger wing turned Independent TD for Kildare South Cathal Berry has called for Russian diplomats to be expelled from Ireland, given the threat posed by Moscow.
Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail on Sunday night, Mr. Berry said that while the numbers operating in the Russian embassy in Dublin have dropped from about 30 to 14 in the past two years, there is "absolutely" a need to reduce it further.
He added: "Absolutely grounds for further reductions, it should be matched numbers, so only the same amount as we have in our embassy in Moscow.
"Russia is carpet bombing every social media account in Ireland right now, finding impressionable accounts and feeding them more information that confirms their bias.
"Ireland is a playground for Russia, we sit between three of the Five Eyes [intelligence community consisting of USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Germany], member of the European Union, and geographically you couldn’t think of a better place to conduct hybrid operation [from a Russian perspective].
These activities include the weaponization of migration, election interference, attacks on infrastructure, airports or influencing social and mainstream media."
Mr. Berry pointed to the lack of National Security Strategy, as a major flaw in the Irish security apparatus. He said: "We’re one of the few countries that don’t have one. Our entire intelligence architecture is decades behind any peer country, any advanced western democracy."
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Queried about the activities of China, Mr. McElgunn said it had good relations with Ireland.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s This Week programme, he said that the EU views China as an economic competitor, as a systemic rival on the world stage.
He added: "But, I would say China is a huge global superpower as well. Having said that, we have good relations with China.
"China’s worldview is a little different from what it is in the western world and, as a consequence of that, elements of the Chinese Communist Party’s foreign policy are of interest to many, if not the majority of western intelligence agencies."
Earlier this year, French officials warned the Department of Foreign Affairs about efforts by Russia to extend its disinformation activities into Ireland in the run-up to June’s European elections.
The network of Russian websites and social media accounts was first revealed last February when French security officials from Viginum, a newly formed agency, alleged Moscow was using it to sow discord in France and other EU countries by exploiting grievances around divisive issues such as immigration.
A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman previously said it was aware of the "pro-Russian Portal Kombat campaign recently uncovered by Viginum," and said such activities were "completely unacceptable."
The spokesman added that the Department was in ongoing contact with other Government departments on the issue of foreign interference, and that Ireland worked closely with other EU states on the issue.
Speaking last month, Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin said fake ads that featured him started in Russia.
He confirmed he was still investigating the advertisements.
*This article was originally published on Extra.ie.
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