Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator. One of the things the capacity review does is that it benchmarks Ireland against other countries, particularly against those of similar size, to see how we stack up. That is going to be of interest. Second, every country obviously has different needs. They are protecting different things. I understand approximately one third of European data is stored in Ireland. We have all these large headquarters of global IT firms and pharmaceutical companies. We have, therefore, different needs. We have a different type of military apparatus and so on, compared to other countries. Every country is different.

As the Senator said, Estonia is often mentioned as one of the most advanced technological countries in the world and certainly in Europe. Scandinavian countries are, of course, as well. I know that from my responsibilities with eGovernment. Certainly, Estonia is a country that is very much online and one that we should talk to and communicate with.

The European Council meeting on communications is coming up on 3 June 2021. Ministers from every member state will discuss cybersecurity. That will be on the agenda. I will certainly take the time to talk to my counterparts from the countries from whom I think we could learn the most.