Russia is one of a handful of countries believed to be involved in spying activities in Ireland, a senior garda has said.
Assistant Commissioner Michael McElgunn, who is in charge of the unit responsible for State security, said there were some states involved in espionage with “malign intent”.
He said they attempt to create mistrust in government as well as trying to steal secrets from the State and from industry, which undermines the reputation of Ireland.
Mr McElgunn spoke to RTÉ’s This Week programme.
The Assistant Commissioner for Crime and Security Intelligence Service said: “What we are particularly concerned about is a handful of states who are involved in spying activities on sovereign soil with malign intent.
“The intent to seek to influence, to create distrust in government, to 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.
“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.
But he added: “However, if we look at the events in Salisbury in the United Kingdom, if we look at other events in the United Kingdom, 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 that Russia were one of these states.”
“Russia is one of the countries that we have an interest in, in the general space.”
Asked about the activities of China, Mr McElgunn said it had good relations with Ireland.
He said: “The EU views China as an economic competitor, as a systemic rival on the world stage. But, I would say China is a huge global superpower as well.
“Having said that we have good relations with China.
“China’s world view 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 is of interest to many, if not the majority of western intelligence agencies.”
