Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his opening statement. It was useful and helpful for us to get his take on exactly what the NCSC does. According to the previous couple of committee meetings and in general commentary, it seems that the NCSC is responsible for everything on its own. It is almost, as the Minister of State referenced, a GCHQ kind of scenario, but the analogy of the fire service is quite useful. Ideally, one does not need them at all, but they need to be there because if there is an incident, they can get involved.

I asked some of the experts before us yesterday what countries are best at addressing and getting involved with these particular scenarios. They mentioned Estonia, the UK and Israel - somewhat controversially I suppose in the context of other events going on - but they did say that they are particularly good at it. Is there an EU role for this particular office? Could or should there be? Clearly, a threat to one member state is a threat to all of us. Equally, has there been any contact with experts in the field, whether they be Israeli, British or equally any member state, particularly the likes of Estonia, which had a very digital economy when it was set up in 1991?

We have also talked a great deal about funding, salary scales and so on. The Minister of State clarified some of that for us. I suppose his point is that it is every organisation's responsibility, whether it is the Revenue Commissioners or the Department of Social Protection. They have large databases. Almost every family in the country has a link to the Department of Social Protection and to Revenue.