Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/PAAlmost €1 million will be spent on a new secure meeting room in Government buildings, to guard against surveillance of conversations with other world leaders. Taoiseach Micheál Martin confirmed that a €958,000 increase in “premises expenses” at his department this year will go towards a new secure room “because surveillance is everywhere”. Martin explained that secure facilities were sometimes required when he was talking to other international leaders, including meetings of the coalition of the willing. “Some of those meetings, not all, would have sensitive things said, and you need secure, what’s called ‘Nato proof’ secure facilities. Secure communications facilities, often known by their US designation “sensitive compartmented information facilities” or Scifs, are widely used by governments to prevent surveillance.

Source: The Irish Times February 26, 2026 18:08 UTC