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

The role of An Garda Síochána is clear. The members of the force carry out criminal investigations. This is another area where many crimes are now starting to occur and where it will be necessary for the Garda to operate in. My experience is that the members of the force are very skilled in this area. At least one garda is posted in the NCSC. The Garda carried out forensic analysis of the HSE cyberattack, co-operated with other police forces in Europe and globally and managed to get information about the attackers. The force has made progress on this case. It is not going to be a case, though, that one national police agency takes out one criminal gang, especially when gangs are spread throughout multiple jurisdictions. A concerted response will be required, through bodies such as Interpol, etc., to allow the co-operation between different police forces that will be required to enable long-term surveillance of suspects and to prevent potential attackers from being able to carry out their attacks. The function of An Garda Síochána will relate to aspects such as gathering evidence and forensics and then issuing orders to disable bank accounts, for example, or to interrupt the flow of payments, take down websites or deal with anyone in a jurisdiction where members of the force can operate.