Letters to the Editor: State security service should be independent

'While I have the highest regard for Deputy Commissioner Paul Cleary, I looked at other models of intelligence services abroad and very few, if any, come under the remit of their national police forces.' File picture: Collins Courts

The Garda Commissioner’s announcement of a revamped security service is welcome news.

However, I have reservations about it coming under our police service management, as I have always believed a properly funded and staffed service should be separate from the garda service itself.

In a world where extremism, foreign, and national threats and organised crime groups are predominant, I was hoping that the minister for justice would have brought to Cabinet the need for and independent security service by now.

An Garda Síochána, as a police service, should concentrate on policing, while an independent security service, with all the tools and technologies required to assimilate and act on information, can take decisive action on its own rather than using much needed resources from within the garda force itself.

While I have the highest regard for Deputy Commissioner Paul Cleary, I looked at other models of intelligence services abroad and very few, if any, come under the remit of their national police forces.

So, why are successive governments so reluctant to set up an independent intelligence service?

Why can’t they see that something that should have been part of Ireland’s security and defence, decades ago, has still not being realised?

Politicians in Government don’t understand, or have the experience to understand, the need for an independent security service.

They have consistently delegated their responsibilities to other services, like our national police force, who were/are not properly equipped to deal with the technological and human threats that are all around us.

This independent service should have been given the funding and staff, properly screened, vetted, with IT and proactive skills, to ensure our security and safety.

I feel at times, having written on this subject ad infinitum, that the Government is ignoring what would be a very important and vital service.

Christy Galligan (retd garda sgt), Letterkenny, Co Donegal

World Cup ‘free to air’ — but not GAA

Over the next three weekends, the hurling and football championships will feature a plethora of top-class games as we rush through what Donal Óg Cusack has rightly named “the microwave championship”.

There are so many games — with many behind paywalls and other self-inflicted blank TV screens — but at least 104 World Cup games are “free to air” to everyone.

To add insult to injury, it now appears that all the major Saturday games that won’t be shown live won’t even be seen on the normal Saturday Game highlights on the Saturday night — we can see them all on Sunday nights. Of course, TV stations are constipated with World Cup fixtures — so the RTÉ Player will have to satisfy the GAA fans.

The GAA now owns this GAA+ channel — nobody else. From “on high”, us grassroots complainers are being preached that “more games than ever can be seen live” but not until maybe August — oops, by then Sam and Liam will be well presented. Wouldn’t it be a brilliant gesture — and brilliant Gaelic Games promotion — if the GAA took the + from GAA+ and just used the channel to at least have a Saturday game show free for everyone? Is that asking too much?

Saturday night is a night when even schoolchildren could watch TV and see the best hurlers and footballers in the country because, by the time they all have school holidays, GAA Championships 2026 will be nearly over.

John Arnold, Bartlemy, Fermoy

Irish pilgrim paths

John G O’Dwyer’s recent article on pilgrim trails presents a fabulous idea — “pilgrim paths offer a big tourism opportunity for rural Ireland” (Irish Examiner, June 13).

I would love to see a map including suggested stops for a trail that will serve Ireland as other pilgrimage trails are doing. 

No matter the time period or type of religion here in Ireland, people were known to travel by foot to great and small celebrations. It would be wonderful to see this spirit revived without the profiteering mentality.

Consider the purpose not to be for a pot of gold that fades with the rainbow but a purpose for revival of our ancient culture.

Thomas Gilroy, Sligo

Crisis of Trumpism

Donald Trump is the gravest crisis for Western security since the end of the Second World War, and a lasting one. I agree with one political analyst when he said: “Trumpism will outlast his presidency.” One wonders which nations are equipped to step to the fore as the US stands back? As regards to Trump, history will see that he manufactured chaos because he had nothing to offer.

This US president has no ideas nor has he any vision. I believe his raison d’etre is to tear down what others built. He is a president who constantly blames others for his palpable shortcomings.

It’s my assertion that future generations will be taught he was nothing but a pathetic conman and a failure.

Many believe Donald Trump would have been an insignificant person if it weren’t for the inheritance he received from his father.

John O’Brien, Clonmel, Tipperary

Glue traps on sale

A business in Galway was recently convicted and fined for selling glue traps which were described in court as “unnecessarily cruel”.

Consisting of a cardboard base covered in the stickiest of glue, they condemn captured mice and rats to a prolonged and horrific death.

The rodents frantically struggle to escape, often breaking bones or chewing off limbs in futile efforts to find freedom.

Some suffocate when their faces get stuck in the glue, while others eventually succumb to starvation and dehydration.

Vets who have denounced the traps confirm “there is much suffering by the entrapped animals — it is not a sudden or merciful death ... because all mammals have similar nervous systems, they are capable of experiencing the same type of pain and suffering”.

Sadly, despite being illegal for years under the Wildlife Act, glue traps continue to surface in shops across Ireland.

Anyone who sees them for sale or being used is encouraged to report it to the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Philip Kiernan, Irish Council Against Blood Sports, Mullingar, Westmeath

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