Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. A number of members have already dealt with the fact that the NCSC was under-resourced and overtasked. We have a to-do list and we need to ensure that is completed and that all necessary resources are brought to bear.

I want to deal with the executive summary. Recommendation 5 states:

Ensure legislation formally and fully embeds NCSC within the wider national security and intelligence machinery of Government as the National Technical Authority for the cyber domain and focuses its mission on the dynamic detection and disruption of sophisticated threat actors.

Could I get some information on exactly what the national technical authority will look like? We all said that the NCSC might not have had the required resources to do its regulatory and preventative work and to deal with critical infrastructure organisations and that there was a need for more. Is that the role the national technical authority would fulfil? The Minister of State already mentioned intelligence gathering but are we also talking about the need for knowledge of disruption and protection and, for the want of a better term, strike or counterstrike capacity?

I refer also to the relationship between the NCSC and the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána. What is envisaged in that regard.