Ireland’s decision to join a European naval intelligence alliance is a “very positive development”, a former soldier and TD has said. 

The Common Information Sharing Environment (CISE) is a voluntary group that will allow countries to swap information relating to coast guards, naval services and the customs. 

On The Pat Kenny Show, Cathal Berry described it as a “fancy name for a maritime intelligence sharing network”. 

“It was established last year, it’s run by the European Commission and involves 11 countries currently; 10 are EU and one is Norway - which is an EEA country,” he said. 

“It operates basically on the exact same principle that our Air Traffic Control monitors in Ireland share information with other air traffic control services in Europe. 

“And also how our Garda Síochána interact with Europol - it’s the exact same principal.” 

Dr Berry added that it is “very important” that Ireland is able to share information securely with neighbouring countries. 

“When Governments are exchanging very sensitive information, they shouldn’t be doing it by WhatsApp and they shouldn’t be doing it by Gmail,” he said. 

“They should be doing it securely and this is a secure means of communication which can’t be hacked and can’t be compromised in any way. 

“So, it’s a very positive development.” 

Opposing the move, People Before Profit’s Paul Murphy described it as part of a “strategy of fear mongering and eroding neutrality bit by bit until there is nothing left.”

Main image: The Irish navy arriving into Dublin. Picture by: Alamy.com