> Mr Martin said: **”I’m actually very surprised at the degree to which everybody – herd-like – just grabbed on the story and said, ‘This is it. Who is the person?’**
> “I’m absolutely amazed. There’s a more fundamental question to be asked, which I’m going to ask as Minister of Defence.
>”Because** as Minister of Defence, I’ve never received a security briefing saying there’s a spy in the Oireachtas. There may be – there may not be.**
> “There’s an issue of accountability in terms of our intelligence services.
>”**If this is true, then someone gave that information. And I don’t think that’s acceptable actually. I don’t.”**
>”I’m not comfortable with the situation pertaining to intelligence. **I have concerns about how all of this has emerged in the public arena.”**
Why would Irish intelligence go the Sunday Times but not tell the minister above them. Very strange story which seems to have no legs if our defence minister was never informed.
funpubquiz on
I always wonder if he was the alleged British spy whenever that getd brought up.
Storyboys on
The “there may be, there may not be” comment absolutely reeks of guilt and knowing more.
cjamcmahon1 on
That is a bizarre response from Martin. Harris’s response a few days ago effectively confirmed it, or at least he did not take the chance to deny it. What is going on here?
DaveShadow on
Given Harris confirmed it, if the Minister of Defense hasn’t been told, there’s serious implications there about him, or at least those close to him.
Any_Comparison_3716 on
No minister has confirmed it. Harris has only said it is “likely”.
**Thus, we have three options:**
1) The Security Services keep national security issues secret from the responsible Ministers, but prefer sharing Intel with foreign newspapers.
2) Harris and Martin are lying.
3) The whole story is utter horseshit printed in a British newspaper to imply the left wing TD’s are dirty stinky commie-nazis pre-election.
Any of the three would be quite concerning.
Sciprio on
Why are they going on about this Russian spy but totally ignoring the British ones among others?
MBMD13 on
Iffy and whiffy. This just makes everything weirder and curiouser without actually improving anything. C’mon, what are we doing here?
LimerickJim on
There’s a difference between a spy and just a compromised TD that took back handers.
*The Sunday Times reported that Russian intelligence allegedly used a “honeytrap” to recruit an Irish politician as an agent during Brexit negotiations, with the aim of undermining relations between Britain, Ireland and the EU.*
“We’ll give you a million euro to piss off the Tories”
“Just make it a chicken roll a few pints” – Any Irish person ever
BrickEnvironmental37 on
To be fair, as Minister of Defense there are times when he has to play dumb. We are constantly accumulating state secrets, that we will only find out when the expiry of the classification is up. We tend to get stuff from around 30 years ago every New Year.
If there is a Spy, we don’t exactly want him/her know that we’re onto them. Although the game is up now for somebody.
Irishwol on
If you look around the Oireachtas and you don’t know who the spy is, it’s definitely you Micheál
Loud-Process7413 on
A fucking embarrassment to the country.
Admissions and denials.
The usual farce from a government up its own arse, coz their just SO good..
Meehole would say f#cking mass, and has spent a long career passing the blame on EVERYONE else.
In this endless career he has noticed f#ck all.
No corruption, no dirty deals….nothing.
So, it doesn’t surprise me in the least to hear him spout the same shite as usual. What? Who? Where? When?…I wasn’t told.
😡🙈🙉🙊
jonnieggg on
Poor oul Mehole sure they tell him nothing.
Mysterious_Half1890 on
Look for a guy in a duffle coat 🧥 who’s always reading a newspaper with holes in it for eyes! That’s how they do it in movies…
Professional_1981 on
There’s only one reason I can think of why he wasn’t told:
Michael Martin is Agent Cobalt.
The report did say Cobalt had damaged trust in Irish institutions.
15 Comments
> Mr Martin said: **”I’m actually very surprised at the degree to which everybody – herd-like – just grabbed on the story and said, ‘This is it. Who is the person?’**
> “I’m absolutely amazed. There’s a more fundamental question to be asked, which I’m going to ask as Minister of Defence.
>”Because** as Minister of Defence, I’ve never received a security briefing saying there’s a spy in the Oireachtas. There may be – there may not be.**
> “There’s an issue of accountability in terms of our intelligence services.
>”**If this is true, then someone gave that information. And I don’t think that’s acceptable actually. I don’t.”**
>”I’m not comfortable with the situation pertaining to intelligence. **I have concerns about how all of this has emerged in the public arena.”**
Why would Irish intelligence go the Sunday Times but not tell the minister above them. Very strange story which seems to have no legs if our defence minister was never informed.
I always wonder if he was the alleged British spy whenever that getd brought up.
The “there may be, there may not be” comment absolutely reeks of guilt and knowing more.
That is a bizarre response from Martin. Harris’s response a few days ago effectively confirmed it, or at least he did not take the chance to deny it. What is going on here?
Given Harris confirmed it, if the Minister of Defense hasn’t been told, there’s serious implications there about him, or at least those close to him.
No minister has confirmed it. Harris has only said it is “likely”.
**Thus, we have three options:**
1) The Security Services keep national security issues secret from the responsible Ministers, but prefer sharing Intel with foreign newspapers.
2) Harris and Martin are lying.
3) The whole story is utter horseshit printed in a British newspaper to imply the left wing TD’s are dirty stinky commie-nazis pre-election.
Any of the three would be quite concerning.
Why are they going on about this Russian spy but totally ignoring the British ones among others?
Iffy and whiffy. This just makes everything weirder and curiouser without actually improving anything. C’mon, what are we doing here?
There’s a difference between a spy and just a compromised TD that took back handers.
*The Sunday Times reported that Russian intelligence allegedly used a “honeytrap” to recruit an Irish politician as an agent during Brexit negotiations, with the aim of undermining relations between Britain, Ireland and the EU.*
“We’ll give you a million euro to piss off the Tories”
“Just make it a chicken roll a few pints” – Any Irish person ever
To be fair, as Minister of Defense there are times when he has to play dumb. We are constantly accumulating state secrets, that we will only find out when the expiry of the classification is up. We tend to get stuff from around 30 years ago every New Year.
If there is a Spy, we don’t exactly want him/her know that we’re onto them. Although the game is up now for somebody.
If you look around the Oireachtas and you don’t know who the spy is, it’s definitely you Micheál
A fucking embarrassment to the country.
Admissions and denials.
The usual farce from a government up its own arse, coz their just SO good..
Meehole would say f#cking mass, and has spent a long career passing the blame on EVERYONE else.
In this endless career he has noticed f#ck all.
No corruption, no dirty deals….nothing.
So, it doesn’t surprise me in the least to hear him spout the same shite as usual. What? Who? Where? When?…I wasn’t told.
😡🙈🙉🙊
Poor oul Mehole sure they tell him nothing.
Look for a guy in a duffle coat 🧥 who’s always reading a newspaper with holes in it for eyes! That’s how they do it in movies…
There’s only one reason I can think of why he wasn’t told:
Michael Martin is Agent Cobalt.
The report did say Cobalt had damaged trust in Irish institutions.