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LAST UPDATE | 2 Sep
THE NEW GARDA Commissioner has said that Ireland is not talking enough about the dangers to its national security from espionage and radical political and religious extremism.
Justin Kelly took up the role yesterday and replaced outgoing Commissioner Drew Harris who had served in the post for seven years.
Kelly, from Dublin, has served in the organisation for 30 years and was the Chief Superintendent of the Special Detective Unit which is the State’s counter terror and anti-espionage policing wing.
He has also served at the top level of the organisation’s intelligence services and led major organised crime investigations which included probes of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group and MV Matthew drugs seizure.
In a wide ranging press conference this morning in Dublin the new Commissioner spoke of the importance of State security.
“National security, given my background, is also a significant priority for me,” he said.
“In fact, in my view, it’s not spoken about enough. We are living in very uncertain times with a volatile geopolitical environment and although we may be an island on the edge of Europe, we’re not immune to the threats in the national security space.
“It’s absolutely vital that we in An Garda Síochána, have all the capabilities in place to protect us from these threats and to keep the people of Ireland safe,” he said.
When asked what the biggest threats facing Ireland are he referenced the war in Ukraine and the activities of “hostile state actors” in an apparent reference to Russia and other countries.
“I don’t have to name them. Everybody will know who they are. There are hostile state actors. We are in a really volatile situation at the moment.
“We have war in Eastern Europe – the ripples of that have crossed Europe and has reached our shores here. So obviously the hostile state actor is one element of it,” he said.
He also addressed “far right extremism” and said: “…I would say rather than even saying far-right political extremism, it’s political extremism, that leads to violence on all sides, so all sides of the spectrum.
“Once it transgresses over into violence we have got an interest in that,” he explained.
The Commissioner also spoke about “religiously motivated radicalism”.
“[That] is is something that, again, has not gone away, and we have seen attacks here in this country which have been religiously motivated. So that’s something that we always have to keep to the forefront,” he added.
Kelly said that the Special Detective Unit, which deals with the issue and is based at Walter Scott House in Dublin, is at the “absolute vanguard of that”.
“We’ve got absolutely great expertise there. So what I spoke about is building the capabilities that we have; building the expertise with our own people; with our ICT (Information technology); with our equipment and our international outreach.
“Obviously, dealing with anything around national security, international outreach is really, really important. So having those good relations with other security services really important to me,” he said.
Kelly also said threats to the public such as domestic violence, anti-social behaviour, rural crime and street crime, particularly in Dublin, are also priorities for him as he takes up the role.
“We are a low crime country, but these type of anti-social crimes can really impact the daily lives of people,” he added.
He also said that the Community Policing model must be maintained across all communities.
Separately for gardaí he said that he was looking to invest and improve garda personal protective equipment and also they were going to continue to modernise the garda fleet.
Kelly added: “we have to ensure that there are no hindrances to them doing a really, really good job”.
The Commissioner explained that he was considering the roll out of tasers to frontline members and said he has seen gardaí under significant pressure and that he receives weekly reports of injuries.
Kelly also raised the issue of the apparent industrial relations issue between Garda Headquarters and the various representative associations for members of the force.
The previous commissioner had a combative and difficult relationship with the groups, particularly with the Garda Representative Association which voted overwhelmingly in favour of a no confidence motion in Drew Harris.
“Naturally, I want to reset the relationship with the garda associations. The garda associations, of course, do really important work advocating for their members, so I will be increasing the level of my engagement with them, and look forward to having a very productive relationship with them,” he added.
With additional reporting from Eimer McAuley.
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