Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and intelligence in British, Commonwealth, Irish, and other police forces. A Special Branch unit acquires and develops intelligence, usually of a political or sensitive nature, and conducts investigations to protect the State from perceived threats of subversion, particularly terrorism and other extremist political activity.
The Irish Army, also known simply as the Army, is the land component of the Defence Forces of Ireland. The Irish Army has an active establishment of 7,520, and a reserve establishment of 3,869. Like other components of the Defence Forces, the Irish Army has struggled to maintain strength and as of April 2023 has only 6,322 active personnel, and 1,382 reserve personnel. The Irish Army is organised into two brigades.
The Defence Forces are the armed forces of Ireland. They encompass the Army, Air Corps, Naval Service, and Reserve Defence Forces.
The Air Corps is the air force of the Republic of Ireland. Organisationally a military branch of the Defence Forces of Ireland, the Air Corps utilises a fleet of fixed-wing aircraft and rotorcraft to carry out a variety of duties in conjunction with the Irish Army, Irish Naval Service and Garda Síochána. The headquarters of the Air Corps is located at the Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel, Dublin. The Air Corps has an active establishment of 886 personnel. Like other components of the Defence Forces, it has struggled to maintain strength and as of April 2023 has only 711 active personnel. Unlike the Army or the Naval Service, the Air Corps does not maintain a reserve component.
The Communications and Information Services Corps (CIS) – formerly the Army Corps of Signals – is one of the combat support corps of the Irish Defence Forces, the military of Ireland. It is responsible for the installation, maintenance and operation of communications and information systems for the command, control and administration of the Defence Forces, and the facilitation of accurate, real-time sharing of intelligence between the Army, Naval Service and Air Corps branches at home and overseas.
The Directorate of Military Intelligence is the military intelligence branch of the Defence Forces, the Irish armed forces, and the national intelligence service of Ireland. The organisation has responsibility for the safety and security of the Irish Defence Forces, its personnel, and supporting the national security of Ireland. The directorate operates domestic and foreign intelligence sections, providing intelligence to the Government of Ireland concerning threats to the security of the state and the national interest from internal and external sources.
The Special Detective Unit (SDU) is the main domestic security agency of the Garda Síochána, the national police force of Ireland, under the aegis of the Crime & Security Branch (CSB). It is the primary counter-terrorism and counter-espionage investigative unit within the state. The Special Detective Unit superseded the Special Branch, which itself replaced the older Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which was founded in 1921. They work in conjunction with the Defence Forces Directorate of Military Intelligence (J2) – Ireland's national intelligence service – on internal matters. The unit's headquarters are in Harcourt Street, Dublin City.
Law enforcement in the Republic of Ireland is the responsibility of Ireland's civilian police force, the Garda Síochána, commonly referred to as the Gardaí. It is responsible for all civil policing within the country and has been the only territorial police force since their merger with the Dublin Metropolitan Police in 1925.
The National Surveillance Unit (NSU) is the principal clandestine intelligence gathering and surveillance operations unit of the Garda Síochána, the national police force of Ireland. The unit operates under the Crime & Security Branch (CSB), based at Garda Headquarters in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, and also works from Harcourt Street, Dublin. Members of the unit are specially trained and selected Detective Gardaí who are tasked to remain covert whilst on and off duty, tracking suspected criminals, terrorists and hostile, foreign spies operating in Ireland. The unit's detectives are routinely armed. The National Surveillance Unit is understood to possess a manpower of approximately 100 officers, and is considered to be the most secretive arm of the force.
The Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces (COS) is charged with the executive management of the Irish Defence Forces, and is the most senior military officer of the Army, Naval Service and Air Corps branches. The Chief of Staff is appointed by the President of Ireland, who is the Supreme Commander of the Defence Forces, on the recommendation of the Minister for Defence subject to the approval of the Government of Ireland. The office of the Chief of Staff consists of his personal staff, a strategic planning office, a public relations section and the military judge.
The Crime and Security Branch (CSB) – previously known as C3 – is responsible for the administration of national security, counter terrorism and serious crime investigations within the Garda Síochána, the national police force of Ireland. The section oversees intelligence relating to subversive, paramilitary and terrorism matters, conducts counter-intelligence, liaises with foreign law enforcement agencies, handles confidential informants, administers VIP and witness protection, monitors potential corrupt Garda officers and provides information on threats to the state to the Garda Commissioner and Government of Ireland.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is a government computer security organisation in Ireland, an operational arm of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. The NCSC was developed in 2013 and formally established by the Irish government in July 2015. It is responsible for Ireland's cyber security, with a primary focus on securing government networks, protecting critical national infrastructure, and assisting businesses and citizens in protecting their own systems. The NCSC incorporates the Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT-IE).
The National Security Committee (NSC) of Ireland is a secretive inter-departmental committee responsible for ensuring that the Taoiseach and Government of Ireland are kept informed of high-level national security, intelligence and defence issues, and the state's response to them.
The Ordnance Corps (ORD) is a combat support corps of the Irish Army, a branch of the Defence Forces, that has logistical and operational responsibility for military ordnance in Ireland. The logistical role of the Army Ordnance Corps is to provide technical support to the Defence Forces for the procurement, storage, distribution, inspection, maintenance, repair and disposal of all items of ordnance equipment. The operational role of the Ordnance Corps is to train personnel for and provide the state's bomb disposal capability.
The University College Dublin Centre for Cybersecurity & Cybercrime Investigation is a centre for research and education in cybersecurity, cybercrime and digital forensic science in Dublin, Ireland.
The Garda Counter-Terrorism International (CTI) unit is attached to the Special Detective Unit (SDU) of the Garda Síochána, the national police service of Ireland. The Special Detective Unit and its subsections operate under the command of the Crime and Security Branch (CSB). The unit comes under the brief of the Assistant Commissioner for Crime & Security, and reports directly to the Garda Commissioner.
The Defence Forces Training Centre (DFTC) (Irish: Airmheán Traenála Óglaigh na hÉireann, ATÓÉ) is the principal training centre for the Irish Army and other branches of the Irish Defence Forces, headquartered at the Curragh Camp that serves to provide education and training to recruits and officers. The DFTC also encompasses Glen of Imaal in County Wicklow which is the primary artillery and anti-tank firing range for the army. It primarily comprises the Military College, with various schools, alongside additional specialised schools. It also hosts some specialised army units. DFTC is home to 2,000 military personnel.
The GSOC bugging scandal in February 2014 involved revelations that the offices of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, Ireland's independent police watchdog, were under covert electronic surveillance by an unknown party. John Mooney, security correspondent for The Sunday Times, first published the story alleging that GSOC had been the subject of surveillance by an unidentified party using "government level technology" to hack into its emails, Wi-Fi and telephone systems. The espionage operation was uncovered by a private British counter-surveillance firm, Verrimus, whom GSOC hired after its suspicions became aroused of outside spying on the organisation and its activities.
