Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for joining us today. I am aware that he has plenty of other things to be doing at this time.

I stated yesterday that Ireland lacks security awareness and a culture of security. It may well be based on some sort of belief in the goodness of people, which, I might say, is misguided. Does the Minister of State believe that we should increase the budget for the national cybersecruity to the €50 million that was projected by Mr. Pat Larkin yesterday?

I circulated a paper last night which the Minister of State will have received. Every Member of the Houses of the Oireachtas received a copy of a paper written by Mr. Pat Larkin in 2018 in which much of what has happened was predicted. I know that the Minister of State is not long in the Ministry, so I am not pointing any fingers at him. However, it would suggest a lack of awareness.

My colleague, Senator Horkan, referred to ethical hacking. In one of the Minister of State's responses, he mentioned working across other Ministers' areas of responsibility. If I may say to the Minister of State, to hell with the niceties. We are in a war. Cybersecurity is now the fourth realm of national security and we are at war. As we were told yesterday, we are on a journey to which there is no end. Would the Minister of State agree that it is time that we set aside the niceties and started using ethical hacking and finding the weaknesses right across State and semi-State bodies? If we step on somebody's toes in the meantime, sorry about it, but that is what it takes.

Next, I wish to raise the issue of software. We have heard that some of the HSE computers were running Windows XP and Windows 7. If that is true, it is outrageous that it would be allowed to go on. Is the Minister of State going to take steps to ensure that every Government agency updates its software to the most modern version available and has the most modern security software?

Finally, I wish to raise an issue that is perhaps a little out of left field and which the Minister of State may not have expected. He may not wish to respond and I accept that. I have been contacted by a significant number of people who registered on the HSE website for Covid-19 vaccination appointments and all of a sudden started to receive spurious calls asking them for money. I have had a number of the calls-----