The Garda Special Detective Unit (SDU), which is responsible for investigating threats to national security, is investigating the sighting of a group of drones near the flight path of Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s aircraft as he arrived for a State visit to Ireland on Monday night.
Garda headquarters confirmed the move on Friday after previously stating it was not investigating the matter.
The investigation is taking place alongside the Defence Forces and “international security partners” – understood to be a reference to UK and EU intelligence services.
The SDU is primarily tasked with investigating terrorism and threats to the State and has in the past been involved in investigations into suspected Russian espionage and other forms of hybrid warfare.
RM Block
The move comes as the French military confirmed its soldiers opened fire on five suspected drones spotted over a nuclear submarine base on Thursday night.
The sighting of the five drones off Ireland on Monday triggered a major security alert amid fears it was an attempt to interfere with the Ukrainian president’s flight path.
A no-fly zone was in effect across the capital at the time. It is not known where the drones originated. Their range and loitering time indicate they were of a sophisticated type and flown by experienced users, sources said.
The drones appeared near the coast by Howth around the time Mr Zelenskiy’s aircraft was due to pass. However, his aircraft was slightly early. Sources said it was not in any danger.
The Garda investigation will focus on the drones’ suspected flight path in an effort to discover their origin.
[ Spike in Russian shadow fleet activities during Zelenskiy visitOpens in new window ]
The drones were first spotted by the crew of the Naval Service vessel LÉ William Butler Yeats which was positioned in Dublin Bay as part of the security operation in place for the Ukrainian president’s visit.
The Irish Times has learned another naval ship, the LÉ Aoibhinn, was also secretly positioned in the bay at the time, acting as an inner cordon.
The Yeats’s crew have now been fully debriefed on the drone sightings. It is understood officials have queried whether sentries may have mistaken civilian aircraft in a holding pattern over the bay for drones.
However, military officers have insisted the drones were flying much closer and much lower than the civilian aircraft. Footage was also obtained of the incident.
The drone sightings do not appear to have interfered with civilian air traffic, a review of air traffic control logs shows.
On Friday, at a meeting of the British-Irish Council in Wales Taoiseach Micheál Martin confirmed he has been briefed on the matter. It was the first official comment on the sightings since news broke of the incident on Thursday afternoon.
[ German police given new powers to shoot down dronesOpens in new window ]
The newly formed ministerial National Security Council will meet later this month and the incident will form part of its discussions, he said.
“I have been briefed in respect of it,” he said. “I don’t want to comment too much on security matters, but suffice to say we will do a review obviously, and part of that review will obviously encompass the issue of drones.
“It has been a feature across Europe in other countries. We liaise and take advice – not so much take advice – but share experiences.
“A lot of it is probing and testing, we suspect. Suffice to say that since the onset of the Ukraine war there has been heightened activity on the cybersecurity front in terms of maritime issues and in terms of drones.”
He declined to comment when asked if Russia was suspected of involvement. “I’m not going to make any comment until we have a full review,” he said.
The Russian embassy issued a statement on Friday condemning Mr Zelenskiy’s visit. However, it did not respond to queries about the drone incident.
