http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G2_%28Repu ... Ireland%29

G2 is the intelligance gathering branch of the Irish defence forces

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Army_Rangers

the rangers are an elite special forces unit of the military.
With these in place, why does the British government insist on establishing an MI5 presence in NI?

What, you want the Free State defence forces to gather information on behalf of the British occupation army. What makes you think they are'nt already?

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Just 1 gram of cocaine destroys 4m2 of tropical rainforest. Give it up ya selfish b'stards.

Its quite clear really, if you stretch your mind to think about it. As you can see even from the web address in the first link, G2 is a branch of the defence forces of the Republic of Ireland, which constitutes 26 counties, not the whole island, despite what you may aspire it to.

what a bizarre question.

Don't they have a branch which deals with Irish interests overseas or in the 6 counties? Like MI6.
Didn't Capt.Kelly carry out missions in the 6 Counties in the 60s?

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Just 1 gram of cocaine destroys 4m2 of tropical rainforest. Give it up ya selfish b'stards.

As far as I know (which isn't much) G2 does the overseas stuff too. But that is quite irrelevant really. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom until the majority of its citizens wish it not to be. The security intelligence interests of the United Kingdom domestically are handled by Mi5, thus Mi5 have a presence in Northern Ireland... its fairly clear when you think about it.

If your point is, whether or not G2 also have an undercover operation going on in the North, well the answer is they probably do. Although probably not a very big one, seeing as I believe the Irish "Secret Service" refunded a fair bit of its budget to the exchequer last year didnt it?

I'm aware of the big debate that raged over whether MI5 or MI6 should take primacy in Northern Ireland, but does anyone know if the Republic of Ireland falls under MI5 or MI6's jurisdiction? I think its 5.

Obviously it makes sound operational sense for the agency responsible for Northern Ireland also to cover the 26 counties, but it is a tad patronising/insulting all the same...

I believe the Brits use MI6 south of the border...

the point is, it is just plain rude for a foreign intellignce agency to establish a physical presence on this island only miles from our border. Especially when the Irish security force could just as well protect NI

Do you honestly believe that? Which do you think is better funded (proportionally): MI5 or 'G2'?